flapper
/ˈflæpɚ/
flapper noun: a young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
Noun (1)
flapper (plural flappers)
- A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
- Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 16, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan
- A young woman, especially when unconventional or without decorum or displaying daring freedom or boldness; now particularly associated with the Jazz Age of the 1920s.
- I paid violent and unusual attention to a flapper all through the meal in order to make you jealous. She's probably in her cabin writing reams about me to a fellow-flapper at this very moment.1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Baker’s Dozen”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 107
- "Now," said the young man cheerfully to Ardita, who had witnessed this last scene in withering silence, "if you will swear on your honor as a flapper—which probably isn't worth much—that you'll keep that spoiled little mouth of yours tight shut for forty-eight hours, you can row yourself ashore in...1920 May 27, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Offshore Pirate”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published September 1920, →OCLC, page 13
Noun (2)
flapper (plural flappers)
- One who or that which flaps.
- It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to afford it always...1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa...
- A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck.
- Small fish, and frog and fish spawn are also eaten, and the ducklings feed upon many species of animalculæ, flies, pollywogs and worms, etc., disturbed by heavy rains which wash the banks, while the young ducks are passing to the "flapper" stage.1904, F. Henry Yorke, "Our American Game Birds: Their Life History and Mode of Hunting Them," Field and Stream, Vol. 9, no. 3 (July 1904), pp. 255—56
- A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming.
- the flapper of a porpoise1876, Arabella B. Buckley, A Short History of Natural Science and of the Progress of Discovery from the Time of the Greeks to the Present Day
- It was still too shallow for the turtle to swim, but it used its four flappers with so much effect against its two assailants, as to give them a thorough shower-bath.1878, William H. G. Kingston, The Three Admirals, page 46
- A flapper valve.
- In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.2004, David Day, Albert Jackson, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to, page 356
- The hand.
- Synonyms:
- flipper
Noun (3)
flapper (plural flappers)
- Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult.
flapper meaning in Tamil
flapper in Tamil
- ஈக்களைக் கொல்லும் தட்டையான கருவி, கிளி கடி கருவி, காட்டு வாத்துக்குஞ்சு, கவுதாரிக்குஞ்சு, கீலிற் பொருத்தப்பட்ட தொங்குமடல், தொங்கல்
Examples of flapper in a sentence
- Concern—and consternation—about the flapper are general.1922 April 16, Margaret O'Leary, “More Ado About the Flapper”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Scott Fitzgerald is best known as a chronicler of the 1920s and as the writer who, more than any other, identified, delineated, and popularized the female representative of that era, the flapper.2002, Rena Sanderson, “8: Women in Fitzgerald's Fiction”, in Ruth Prigozy, editor, The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, page 143:
- Among McPherson's most passionate and visible advocates were Southern California's young flappers, who turned out in droves to cheer on the evangelist.2009, Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America, page 125:
Synonyms of flapper
Forms of flapper
| plural | flappers |
|---|
Origin of flapper
possible etymologies Possibly from Victorian sporting slang, meaning young wildfowl in August which are full-sized, tender and worthwhile quarry, but are naive and unable to fly properly due to the late development of flight feathers in ducks and geese. Alternative derivations are also suggested. The word "flap" was slang in the 17th century for a prostitute: by the late 19th century in England "flapper" could mean either a very young prostitute: or a teenage girl too old to be a child and too young to be considered 'out' in society: "A 'flapper', we may explain, is a young lady who has not yet been promoted to long frocks and the wearing of her hair 'up'". The earliest documented use in the sense of "attractive young girl" is in the 1903 novel Sandford of Merton by Desmond Coke: "There's a stunning flapper.". The word also suggested a spirited girl of unconventional or mischievous disposition. An advertisement in The Times reads: "The father of a young lady, aged 15 – a typical “FLAPPER” – with all the self assurance of a woman of 30 would be grateful for the recommendation of a seminary (not a convent) where she might be placed for a year or two with the object of taming her."...
From flap (verb) + -er.
From flap (noun) + -er.
Words formed from flapper
Phrases with flapper
Words that rhyme with flapper
Questions about flapper
- What does flapper mean?
- Flapper means a young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
- What is flapper in Tamil?
- Flapper in Tamil is ஈக்களைக் கொல்லும் தட்டையான கருவி, கிளி கடி கருவி, காட்டு வாத்துக்குஞ்சு. See Flapper meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use flapper in a sentence?
- Concern—and consternation—about the flapper are general.
- What part of speech is flapper?
- Flapper is a noun.
- How do you pronounce flapper?
- Flapper is pronounced /ˈflæpɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of flapper?
- The plural of flapper is flappers.
Words near flapper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flapper (page history and authors); flapper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flapper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flapper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flapper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.