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👏 To applaud 👏 A hand sound 🦠 A sexual infection 🤝 To pat warmly ⚡ A loud noise 👍 Online approval 🚪 To put quickly 🕊️ To strike wings
to clap

to clap

3 3.0
To put someone or something down quickly and forcefully
  • verb
  • /klæp/
  • Informal
translation icon : dejar caer
  • They will clap the new schedule on the bulletin board later today.
  • clap shut
  • clap someone in irons

Examples

  • Please clap the handcuffs on him quickly so he cannot escape.

  • "Then you might as well clap the handcuffs on me now," she said, "because I can't defend myself.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • When those boys come back to town you just clap the bracelets right on them.

    High Plains Drifter (1973)

  • At any moment, they would evacuate the plane and clap handcuffs on his wrists.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Bent at my table under a low ceiling, I bark and clap at the parting of a veil.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • After discussing the plans, the officer instructed the team to clap the tents in the designated area.

Synonyms

to shove
vsto clap
528 2.7

Push someone or something roughly and quickly

is about placing quickly and forcibly into a specific location rather than pushing onward
to slap
vsto clap
492 1.0

Hit quickly with the flat part of the hand

involves striking for impact or noise rather than placing into a location
to plunk down
vsto clap
  • Informal
6 6.7

To put something down so it makes a noise or to pay money quickly

is about quickly placing something forcibly into a location rather than settling it
to clap on
vsto clap
  • UK
7.2

To put a quick layer of something like sunscreen or paint on without care

is used to place objects quickly into a chosen spot rather than spread substances

Idioms

a dose of the clap
  • Offensive
9.9

A thing that is very unpleasant or embarrassing, like a joke that is not funny

Phrasal Verbs

to clap eyes on
  • Archaic
1 8.0

To see someone or something for the first time

to clap on a smile
  • UK
7.5

To put on a quick fake smile to hide how you feel

to clap on
  • UK
7.2

To put a quick layer of something like sunscreen or paint on without care

to clap together
  • UK
6.8

To make something quickly and without care using what you have

to clap up
  • UK
9.8

To put something together quickly and without care

How Forceful

slam
85 2.1
to clap
  • Informal
3 3.0
set
23 3.4
to put
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

clap infinitive
clapped past
clapped past participle
clapping present participle
claps third person singular

Etymology

Clap can also mean to put something down suddenly or to put someone somewhere quickly, coming from the same idea of a fast, forceful action with a sharp sound, which is why you can 'clap' a book down or be 'clapped' into quarantine.