different between flapper vs plapper

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?flæp?/
• Rhymes: -æp?(r)

Etymology 1

Noun

flapper (plural flappers)

1. (colloquial) A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
   • 1934, James T. Farrell, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, Ch. 16:

     Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.

2. (colloquial, chiefly historical) A young woman, especially when unconventional or without decorum or displaying daring freedom or boldness; now particularly associated with the 1920s. [from 19th c.]
   • 2002, Rena Sanderson, 8: Women in Fitzgerald's Fiction, Ruth Prigozy (editor), The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, page 143,

     F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known as a chronicler of the 1920s and as the writer who, more than any other, identified, delineated, and popularized the female representative of that era, the flapper. Though it is an overstatement to say that Fitzgerald created the flapper, he did, with considerable assistance from his wife Zelda, offer the public an image of a young woman who was spoiled, sexually liberated, self-centered, fun-loving, and magnetic. […] Although she is often seen now as a mere fashion of the bygone Jazz Age, the flapper should be regarded as one of the great authentic characters in American history.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

flap +? -er

Noun

flapper (plural flappers)

1. One who or that which flaps.
   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part III, Ch. 2:

     It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to afford it always keep a flapper (the original is climenole) in their family, as one of their domestics; nor ever walk abroad, or make visits, without him. And the business of this officer is, when two, three, or more persons are in company, gently to strike with his bladder the mouth of him who is to speak, and the right ear of him or them to whom the speaker addresses himself. This flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his master in his walks, and upon occasion to give him a soft flap on his eyes; because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest danger of falling down every precipice, and bouncing his head against every post; and in the streets, of justling others, or being justled himself into the kennel.

2. (hunting) A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck.
   • 1904, F. Henry Yorke, "Our American Game Birds: Their Life History and Mode of Hunting Them," Field and Stream, Vol. 9, no. 3 (July 1904), pp. 255—56:

     Small fish, and frog and fish spawn are also eaten, and the ducklings feed upon many species of animalculæ, flies, pollywogs and worms, etc., disturbed by heavy rains which wash the banks, while the young ducks are passing to the "flapper" stage.

3. A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming.
4. (plumbing) A flapper valve.
   • 2004, David Day, Albert Jackson, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to (page 356)

     In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.

5. (slang) The hand.
6. (rock climbing) Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult.

Derived terms

• fire flapper
• flapper board
• flapper valve

See also

• flappergast

References

English

Etymology

Imitative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?plæp?/
• Rhymes: -æp?(r)

Verb

plapper (third-person singular simple present plappers, present participle plappering, simple past and past participle plappered)

1. (intransitive, rare) To make a flapping noise with the lips.
   • 2016, Stuart Walton, The First Day in Paradise

     Adam was making a plappering noise in his sleep like a horse.

   • 2020, Stefan Prebil, Icediamonds Trilogy Volume 2

     But Marie's reaction when she saw Sam coming gave him pause. She immediately stepped away from Arik, combing her hair with her fingers nervously. She then gave him a smile to die for, threading her arm through his and plappering about […]