Definition of clap noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary



    BrE BrE//klæp//
    ; NAmE NAmE//klæp//
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  1. 1  [singular] an act of clapping the hands; the sound this makes Give him a clap! (= to praise somebody at the end of a performance) With a clap of his hands he ordered more food.
  2. 2[countable] a sudden loud noise a clap of thunder
  3. 3 (also the clap) [uncountable] (informal) a disease of the sexual organs, caught by having sex with an infected person synonym gonorrhoea
  4. Word Originnoun senses 1 to 2 Old English clappan ‘throb, beat’, of imitative origin. Sense (1) dates from late Middle English. noun sense 3 late 16th cent.: from Old French clapoir ‘venereal bubo’.
See the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary entry: clap