clapper — English Dictionary

Noun

1. One who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands.

2. An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clanger or tongue.

3. A wooden mechanical device used as a scarecrow; bird-scaring rattle, a wind-rattle or a wind-clapper.

   Examples

   "Sir, sir! folks' tongues go like the clappers in the fields to drive away the blackbirds. A very little wind makes 'em rattle wonderfully."

4. A clapstick (musical instrument).

5. A pounding block.

6. The chattering damsel of a mill.

7. A slapshot

8. The hinged part of a clapperboard, used to synchronise images and soundtrack, or the clapperboard itself.

9. A person's tongue.

   Usage

   • Slang

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Emilia 'tis true could use her clapper with great Dexterity, but he had the same advantages against her, which this had against him; Olimpia 's Tongue was also well hung but she ever had reason on her side, which he with reason could never either blame or oppose, and by both these came his Fortune: […]

Verb

1. To ring a bell by pulling a rope attached to the clapper.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   It is still necessary to warn clergymen against allowing the lazy and pernicious practice of 'clappering,' i.e. tying the bell-rope to the clapper, and pulling it instead of the bell.

2. To make a repetitive clapping sound; to clatter.

3. Of birds, to make such a noise by repeatedly striking the mandibles together.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   [W]hile he was away Hinzelmann began suddenly to clapper in the ladies' chamber like a stork, and then said, "Maid Anne, you much go look for your things to-day in the mill-stream."

Noun

1. A rabbit burrow.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Related words

   clapper bridge

   Examples

   Poore cunnie so bagged, Is soone overlagged Plash burrow, set clapper, For dog is a snapper

Noun

1. someone who applauds

   Synonyms

   applauder

   Broader terms

   laudatorlauderextoller

2. a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity

   Synonyms

   tonguelinguaglossa

   Broader terms

   organarticulator

3. metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side

   Synonyms

   tongue

   Broader terms

   striker