clapboard

[ klab-erd, klap-bawrd, ‐bohrd ]

/ ˈklæb ərd, ˈklæpˌbɔrd, ‐ˌboʊrd /

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noun

Chiefly Northeastern U.S. a long, thin board, thicker along one edge than the other, used in covering the outer walls of buildings, being laid horizontally, the thick edge of each board overlapping the thin edge of the board below it.

British. a size of oak board used for making barrel staves and for wainscoting.

adjective

of or made of clapboard: a clapboard house.

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Origin of clapboard

1510–20; earlier clap bord, alteration of obsolete clapholt<Low German klappholt (cognate with Dutch klaphout) split wood used for barrel staves; see clap¹, holt

Words nearby clapboard

clannish, clansman, clanswoman, clap, clapback, clapboard, clap eyes on, Clapham Sect, clap-net, clapometer, clap on

Other definitions for clapboard (2 of 2)

clapboard²

[ klap-bawrd, -bohrd ]

/ ˈklæpˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

noun Movies.

a small board with a hinged stick attached that is clapped down at the beginning of the filming of a shot for use later in synchronizing sound and image in the editing of the film.

Also called clapper board, clap·stick

[klap-stik]. /ˈklæpˌstɪk/.

Origin of clapboard

clap¹ + board

How to use clapboard in a sentence

They stride back and forth across the hot pavement, past barns and clapboard houses, dressed in bike helmets, running shorts, and nordic ski boots.
Jessie Diggins Is Out to Make Olympic History (Again)|jversteegh|January 24, 2022|Outside Online
To learn the history of the Wampanoags and what happened to them after the first Thanksgiving, a visitor has to drive 30 miles south of Plymouth to the town of Mashpee, where a modest, clapboard museum sits along a two-lane road.
This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. They still regret it 400 years later.|Dana Hedgpeth|November 4, 2021|Washington Post
The old church was clapboard, and the shooter shot through its walls.
God And Guns|Kimberly Winston|November 4, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
Even the little yellow bus that picks them up for school, tootling past neat clapboard suburban houses as well as farmland, seems somehow dispiriting, a symbol of a home-towny way of life that means them no harm even as it hems them in.
Hulu's Plan B Is an Imperfect Buddy Comedy With Its Heart in the Right Place|Stephanie Zacharek|May 28, 2021|Time

The taxi trundles away from the train station passing rows of gray houses with clapboard shutters into the French countryside.
How the French Do Detox: Inside France’s Most Star-Studded Wellness Retreat|Brandon Presser|October 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A clapboard-covered porch extended across the entire front of the house, which faced westward toward Blue.
A Forest Hearth: A Romance of Indiana in the Thirties|Charles Major
There he built a log cabin covered with a clapboard roof and the chimney was built on the outside of the primitive dwelling.
Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 2 (of 2)|William Denison Lyman
Their first home in this section was a log cabin with a slab floor and a clapboard roof.
Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 2 (of 2)|William Denison Lyman
Iron fire-shovels were a rarity among pioneers; they used, instead a broad, thin clapboard with one end narrowed to a handle.
A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln|John G. Nicolay
It was a lost fragment of clapboard about four feet long, and with no house to it.
Harper's Young People, July 19, 1881|Various

British Dictionary definitions for clapboard

clapboard

/ (ˈklæpˌbɔːd, ˈklæbəd) /

noun

a long thin timber board with one edge thicker than the other, used esp in the US and Canada in wood-frame construction by lapping each board over the one below
(as modifier)a clapboard house

verb

(tr) to cover with such boards

Word Origin for clapboard

C16: partial translation of Low German klappholt, from klappen to crack + holt wood; related to Dutch claphout; see board

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

clapboard

Origin of clapboard

Words nearby clapboard

Other definitions for clapboard (2 of 2)

Origin of clapboard

Words related to clapboard

How to use clapboard in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for clapboard

Word Origin for clapboard