Definition of "clap"

clap¹

/klæp/

noun
plural claps
1. The act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.
2. The explosive sound of thunder.
  Quotations
  The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.
  1922 February, James Joyce, “Episode 12: The Cyclops”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […]
3. Any loud, sudden, explosive sound made by striking hard surfaces together, or resembling such a sound.
  Quotations
  Give the door such a clap, as you go out, as will shake the whole room.
  1731 (date written, published 1745), Jonathan Swift, “Directions to Servants”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XVI, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801
4. A slap with the hand, usually in a jovial manner.
5. A single, sudden act or motion; a stroke; a blow.
  Quotations
  What, fifty of my followers at a clap!
  c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]
  But it took him a long time to get down-stairs, and a still longer to undo the fastenings, repenting (I dare say) and taken with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar.
  1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886
6. (falconry) The nether part of the beak of a hawk.
7. (Yorkshire) A dropping of cow dung (presumably from the sound made as it hits the ground)
  Quotations
  “Oh! get some coo clap (cow dung), mix it wi’ fish oil (whale oil), put it on, and let it stop on all neet.”
  1890, John Nicholson, Folk Lore of East Yorkshire, page 139
verb
third-person singular simple present claps, present participle clapping, simple past and past participle clapped or (archaic) clapt
1. To strike the palms of the hands together, creating a sharp sound.
2. To applaud.
3. To slap with the hand in a jovial manner.
4. To bring two surfaces together forcefully, creating a sharp sound.
  Quotations
  Then like a bird it sits and sings, / Then whets and claps its silver wings.
  1681, Andrew Marvell, The Garden
  [...] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.
  1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], page 49, column 1
5. (obsolete) To slam (a door or window); formerly often construed with to.
  Quotations
  Hostesse clap to the doores.
  c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene v]
  The doors around me clapped.
  1677 (first performance), John Dryden, All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, (please specify the page number)
  Her fear gave her strength; she threw Laura away, and clapped to the door.
  1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, vol. VII, letter 119
6. To create or assemble (something) hastily (usually followed by up or together).
7. To set or put, usually in haste.
  Quotations
  He had just time to get in and clap to the door.
  1693, [John Locke], “§138”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […]
  Clap an extinguisher upon your irony.
  1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […]
8. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To shoot (somebody) with a gun.
9. (slang) To have sex, fornicate, copulate.

clap²

/klæp/

noun
1. (slang, usually with "the") Gonorrhea.
  Quotations
  With the mischiefe of the melt and maw, / The clape and the canker,—
  1821 , Alexander Montgomerie, “The Flyting”, in The Poems of Alexander Montgomery‎, page 115
  I stepped out of my tent in Marrakech one night to get a bar of candy and caught your dose of clap when that Wac I never even saw before hissed me into the bushes.
  1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 172
  “What in hell makes you think he's got the clap?” Hawkeye asked. “Even a clap doctor can't diagnose it through a parka
  1972, Richard Hooker, MASH‎, page 32
  He thought I had given him the clap [gonorrhea], but I knew I didn't.
  1980, Ruth Bell, Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, page 295
  When I explained that I thought he had given me the clap, he said I must be mistaken, it had to be someone I'd “tricked” with at ... He'd never had an STD in his life, he told me, and slammed down the phone.
  1998, Dan Savage, Savage Love, page 229
  Gonorrhea, sometimes called the clap, is caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.]
  [2006, Alvin Silverstein, Virginia Silverstein, Laura Silverstein Nunn, The STDs Update, page 40

Definition of "clap"

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clap¹

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