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Glite Dictionary
🕊️ To move up and down 🕊️ A quick movement ✉️ A loose piece ✈️ A wing part 😰 To act nervously 😰 A nervous state 🩹 A tissue piece 👅 To tap tongue
to flap

to flap

54 1.4
To move up and down quickly, like wings or flags
  • verb
  • /flæp/
translation icon : aletear
  • A harsh wind rockets down the stairs, flapping a pair of open doors.
  • flap its wings
  • flapping flags

Onward, Communists, the banner flaps in the film.

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Examples

  • The bird began to flap its wings as it prepared to take off into the sky.

  • They just need to start flapping them and they'll learn how to fly.

    Mel Robbins

  • Flap your arms and fly!

    Hook (1991)

  • Only occasionally do they flap their wings to take off, change direction, or find a thermal.

    Academic text (1999)

  • His cape was flapping in the wind!

    Superman III (1983)

  • I can hear the bats flapping around before my eyes adjust to the darkness.

    Academic text (2007)

  • So they're pushed up into that low pressure region by flapping their wings back and forth.

  • Flap those wings.

    Finding Neverland (2004)

  • The men cheer as the flags are rammed into the sand, flapping in the wind.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • With a rush of wings, the falcon flaps over and lands on Cullen's hat.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

to beat
vsto flap
  • NSFW
∞ 1.2

To hit something or someone again and again, making a rhythm

is a free back and forth movement without contact or striking
to wave
vsto flap
64 1.0

To move with a smooth up and down motion, like a flag or the sea

is quicker back and forth motion rather than a smooth undulating movement
to flutter
vsto flap
35 3.5

To move quickly and lightly back and forth, like wings or leaves

is a stronger or wider back and forth motion rather than light quick movement

Antonyms

to remain
∞ 1.0

To stay in the same place or state and not change

Idioms

to flap one's gums
  • Informal
2 8.7

Talk a lot about things that do not matter

Compounds

tent flap
1 2.9

A piece of cloth like a door that opens and closes at a tent entrance

pocket flap
1 3.5

A piece of cloth that covers a pocket opening to keep things safe and make the pocket look neater

flap flap
6.8

The repeated sound wings make when they move

landing flap
  • Specialized
5.5

A part under a plane wing that moves down to give more lift and slow the plane when landing

How Fast

to flutter
35 3.5
to flap
54 1.4
to beat
  • NSFW
∞ 1.2

Surface Forms

flap infinitive
flapped past
flapped past participle
flapping present participle
flaps third person singular

Etymology

Flap likely comes from an old Norse word flapa meaning 'to strike or slap', a word that copies the quick sound of a hit. So to flap is to move up and down quickly, like wings or a flag that makes that hitting sound.