clapperclaw
Britishverb
-
to claw or scratch with the hands and nails
-
to revile; abuse
Other Word Forms
- clapperclawer noun
Etymology
Origin of clapperclaw
C16: perhaps from clapper + claw
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Now these rival rogues will clapperclaw one another, and I shall have the sport of it.
From Project Gutenberg
No, I'd not have, upon my life, Great Alexander for my wife, Nor Pompey, nor his dad-in-law, Who did each other clapperclaw.
From Project Gutenberg
To comb one's head; to clapperclaw, or scold any one: a woman who lectures her husband, is said to comb his head.
From Project Gutenberg
But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk To clapperclaw him well; and both of them Fell in the middle of the boiling pond.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
