flapper

[ flap-er ]

noun

1. something broad and flat used for striking or for making a noise by striking.
2. a broad, flat, hinged or hanging piece; flap.
3. a young woman, especially one who, during the 1920s, behaved and dressed in a boldly unconventional manner.
4. a young bird just learning to fly.
5. Slang. the hand.

flapper

/ ˈflæpə /

noun

1. a person or thing that flaps
2. (in the 1920s) a young woman, esp one flaunting her unconventional dress and behaviour

Other Words From

• flapper·dom noun
• flapper·ish adjective
• flapper·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of flapper¹

First recorded in 1560–70; flap + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Replacing a standard flapper, generally for less than $10, is relatively easy, he says.

From Washington Post

Our stereotype of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ is cocaine, nightclubs, and flapper girls.

From The Daily Beast

Standing on the pier was a crowd of tearful fans, dressed in their best flapper frocks.

From The Daily Beast

This brings us to the flapper, the suffragette, and, finally, that über-American icon: the screen siren.

From The Daily Beast

Fleur was not a flapper, not one of those slangy, ill-bred young females.

From Project Gutenberg

The sick man moved a hand, weakly, as though it were the yellow flapper of some wounded amphibian.

From Project Gutenberg

The motor chugged slowly up Broadway, nosing for a path about a slowly driven truck; the flapper looked back.

From Project Gutenberg

Now in his hot rage he included the flapper in the glare he put upon her unconscious father.

From Project Gutenberg

But during pauses in the afternoon's work the island vision became blurred by the singular energies of the flapper.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• branch
• rod
• wing