| Library / English Dictionary |
CLAPPING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A demonstration of approval by clapping the hands together
Synonyms:
applause; clapping; hand clapping
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("clapping" is a kind of...):
approval; commendation (a message expressing a favorable opinion)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clapping"):
hand (a round of applause to signify approval)
handclap (a clap of the hands to indicate approval)
round (an outburst of applause)
Holonyms ("clapping" is a part of...):
ovation; standing ovation (enthusiastic recognition (especially one accompanied by loud applause))
Derivation:
clap (clap one's hands together)
clap (clap one's hands or shout after performances to indicate approval)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb clap
Context examples:
“Excellent!” cried Holmes, clapping the Inspector on the back.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous impulse, we both broke at clapping, as at the well-wrought crisis of a play.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And as for that monstrous animal with whom I was so lately engaged (it was indeed as large as an elephant), if my fears had suffered me to think so far as to make use of my hanger, (looking fiercely, and clapping my hand on the hilt, as I spoke) when he poked his paw into my chamber, perhaps I should have given him such a wound, as would have made him glad to withdraw it with more haste than he put it in.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.’
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Hand-clapping and roars of laughter from the hunters greeted the exploit, while Mugridge, eluding half of his pursuers at the foremast, ran aft and through the remainder like a runner on the football field.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
“Then be it so,” said the Doctor, clapping me on the shoulder, and still keeping his hand there, as we still walked up and down.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“My God, but it is a noble fight!” shouted big John, clapping his hands.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then there was Monsieur Rudin, the French Royalist refugee who lived over on the Pangdean road, and who, when the news of a victory came in, was convulsed with joy because we had beaten Buonaparte, and shaken with rage because we had beaten the French, so that after the Nile he wept for a whole day out of delight and then for another one out of fury, alternately clapping his hands and stamping his feet.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Beth took a step forward, and pressed her hands tightly together to keep from clapping them, for this was an irresistible temptation, and the thought of practicing on that splendid instrument quite took her breath away.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive the woful condition I was in; that some eagle had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock, like a tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my body, and devour it: for the sagacity and smell of this bird enables him to discover his quarry at a great distance, though better concealed than I could be within a two-inch board.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
