▪ I. clapping, vbl. n.
(ˈklæpɪŋ)
[f. clap v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb clap, in various senses; striking, noise as of striking, applause, etc.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 167 Haue þei no children but cheste an choppyng [v.r. clappyng] hem bitwene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 79 Clappynge, percussio. Ibid., Clappynge or clynkynge of a belle, tintillacio. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 653 With many great showtes and clapping of handes. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) I. iii. viii. 630/1 Clapping of dishes and ringing of bells. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. viii. 164 A noise..like the clapping of wings. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 56 The whistling and clapping of a tasteless crowd. |
† 2. fig. Noisy talk, clamour, chatter. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 943 Ay ful of clappyng..A ful gret fool is he that on yow leevith. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 70 That aspine leafe [thy toung], suche spitefull clappyng haue bred. 1877 G. Long tr. M. Aurelius (Bohn) 121 The praise which comes from the many is a clapping of tongues. |
3. attrib., as clapping sound, clapping noise, etc. Comb., as clapping-post, the post against which a gate closes (cf. clap v.1 3, 4) (obs. or dial.).
| 1792 Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 385 It was..put..down for a clapping-post. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 476 A clapping noise similar to that of a corn-mill. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr., Echo mock'd the clapping sound. 1847–78 Halliwell, Clapping-post, the smaller of a pair of gate⁓posts, against which the gate closes. East. |
▪ II. ˈclapping, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That claps; that makes a noise as of two hard bodies struck together, etc.: see clap v.1
| 1583 Stanyhurst Poems (Arb.) 137 A clapping fyerbolt (such as oft, with rownce robel hobble, Joue toe the ground clattreth). 1722 [see clap v.1 2]. 1816 L. Hunt Rimini, Callings, and clappings doors, and curs unite. |