flapper

[ flap-er ]

/ ˈflæp ər /

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noun

something broad and flat used for striking or for making a noise by striking.

a broad, flat, hinged or hanging piece; flap.

a young woman, especially one who, during the 1920s, behaved and dressed in a boldly unconventional manner.

a young bird just learning to fly.

Slang. the hand.

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Origin of flapper

First recorded in 1560–70; flap + -er¹

OTHER WORDS FROM flapper

flap·per·dom, nounflap·per·ish, adjectiveflap·per·ism, noun

Words nearby flapper

flap door, flapdragon, flaperon, flapjack, flappable, flapper, flappers, flappy, flaps, flap valve, flare

How to use flapper in a sentence

Replacing a standard flapper, generally for less than $10, is relatively easy, he says.
How to tackle the home maintenance to-do list you ignored during the pandemic|Jura Koncius|June 24, 2021|Washington Post
Our stereotype of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ is cocaine, nightclubs, and flapper girls.
Sarah Waters: Queen of the Tortured Lesbian Romance|Tim Teeman|September 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Standing on the pier was a crowd of tearful fans, dressed in their best flapper frocks.
Tallulah Bankhead: Gay, Drunk and Liberated in an Era of Excess Art|Judith Mackrell|January 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This brings us to the flapper, the suffragette, and, finally, that über-American icon: the screen siren.
The Forgotten American Woman|Kate Betts|May 5, 2010|DAILY BEAST

Fleur was not a flapper, not one of those slangy, ill-bred young females.
The Forsyte Saga, Volume III.|John Galsworthy
The sick man moved a hand, weakly, as though it were the yellow flapper of some wounded amphibian.
The Shadow|Arthur Stringer
The motor chugged slowly up Broadway, nosing for a path about a slowly driven truck; the flapper looked back.
Bunker Bean|Harry Leon Wilson
Now in his hot rage he included the flapper in the glare he put upon her unconscious father.
Bunker Bean|Harry Leon Wilson
But during pauses in the afternoon's work the island vision became blurred by the singular energies of the flapper.
Bunker Bean|Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for flapper

flapper

/ (ˈflæpə) /

noun

a person or thing that flaps

(in the 1920s) a young woman, esp one flaunting her unconventional dress and behaviour

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

flapper

Origin of flapper

OTHER WORDS FROM flapper

Words nearby flapper

Words related to flapper

How to use flapper in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flapper