claque

[klak]

noun

a group of persons hired to applaud an act or performer.
a group of sycophants.

Origin of claque

1860–65; < French, derivative of claquer to clap

Can be confusedclaque clique

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for claque

Contemporary Examples of claque

To save the banking system, Greenspan, along with a claque of Republicans like Lindsey Graham, now endorses nationalization.
The Naked Truth
Tina Brown
February 18, 2009

Historical Examples of claque

At the end of the performance he sent for the leader of the claque and rated him soundly.
Artists' Wives
Alphonse Daudet
But whatever may be said against it, the claque is great and, in France at least, will prevail.
Old and New Paris, v. 2
Henry Sutherland Edwards
They have attained to absolute perfection in the arts of the claque.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105 December 30, 1893
Various
But his programme was too long, and he had forgotten something—the claque.
Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work
Stephen Samuel Stratton
It was their fault that it got about that I had hired a claque to clap me!
The Story of My Life
Ellen Terry

British Dictionary definitions for claque

claque

noun

a group of people hired to applaud
a group of fawning admirers

Word Origin for claque

C19: from French, from claquer to clap, of imitative origin

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

Word Origin and History for claque

1860, from French claque "band of claqueurs," agent noun from claquer "to clap" (16c.), echoic (cf. clap (v.)). Modern sense of "band of political followers" is transferred from that of "organized applause at theater." Claqueur "audience memeber who gives pre-arranged responses in a theater performance" is in English from 1837.

This method of aiding the success of public performances is very ancient; but it first became a permanent system, openly organized and controlled by the claquers themselves, in Paris at the beginning of the nineteenth century. [Century Dictionary]