clapper

[ klap-er ]
See synonyms for clapper on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who applauds.

  2. the tongue of a bell.

  1. Slang. the tongue.

  2. Usually clappers. two flat sticks held between the fingers and struck rhythmically against each other to produce abrupt, sharp sounds.

  3. Printing. a platen press.

Origin of clapper

1
First recorded in 1250–1300, clapper is from the Middle English word claper.See clap1, -er1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use clapper in a sentence

  • All the bamboo clappers, cocoanut shells, tin pans, and red flags that could be found were seized and put into use.

  • Two small knobs of brass, which serve as clappers, hang by silk strings, one between each two bells.

  • Rattler opened his sleepy eyes, threw himself on guard with a snap and a buzz, and shook his bony clappers savagely.

  • Certainly the clappers were brawling in the tower and had come to blows.

    Hints to Pilgrims | Charles Stephen Brooks
  • Whenever her fingers moved, a little pretty clapping sound came from themMaida discovered that she carried tiny wooden clappers.

    Maida's Little Shop | Inez Haynes Irwin

British Dictionary definitions for clapper

clapper

/ (ˈklæpə) /


noun
  1. a person or thing that claps

  2. a contrivance for producing a sound of clapping, as for scaring birds

  1. Also called: tongue a small piece of metal suspended within a bell that causes it to sound when made to strike against its side

  2. a slang word for tongue (def. 1)

  3. go like the clappers, run like the clappers or move like the clappers British informal to move extremely fast

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012