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flapper

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
14
Words With Friends
17
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈflæpɚ/

Definition of flapper

8 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (colloquial, historical)A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
    “Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.”
See all 8 definitions

noun

  1. (colloquial, historical)A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially.
    “Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.”
  2. (colloquial, historical)A young woman, especially when unconventional or without decorum or displaying daring freedom or boldness; now particularly associated with the Jazz Age of the 1920s.
    “I paid violent and unusual attention to a flapper all through the meal in order to make you jealous. She's probably in her cabin writing reams about me to a fellow-flapper at this very moment.”
    “"Now," said the young man cheerfully to Ardita, who had witnessed this last scene in withering silence, "if you will swear on your honor as a flapper—which probably isn't worth much—that you'll keep that spoiled little mouth of yours tight shut for forty-eight hours, you can row yourself ashore in our rowboat."”
    “Concern—and consternation—about the flapper are general. She disports herself flagrantly in the public eye, and there is no keeping her out of grown-up company or conversation.”
  3. One who or that which flaps.
  4. A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck.
    “Small fish, and frog and fish spawn are also eaten, and the ducklings feed upon many species of animalculæ, flies, pollywogs and worms, etc., disturbed by heavy rains which wash the banks, while the young ducks are passing to the "flapper" stage.”
  5. A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming.
    “the flapper of a porpoise”
    “It was still too shallow for the turtle to swim, but it used its four flappers with so much effect against its two assailants, as to give them a thorough shower-bath.”
  6. A flapper valve.
    “In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.”
  7. (slang)The hand.
  8. Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

possible etymologies Possibly from Victorian sporting slang, meaning young wildfowl in August which are full-sized, tender and worthwhile quarry, but are naive and unable to fly properly due to the…

See full etymology

possible etymologies Possibly from Victorian sporting slang, meaning young wildfowl in August which are full-sized, tender and worthwhile quarry, but are naive and unable to fly properly due to the late development of flight feathers in ducks and geese. Alternative derivations are also suggested. The word "flap" was slang in the 17th century for a prostitute: by the late 19th century in England "flapper" could mean either a very young prostitute: or a teenage girl too old to be a child and too young to be considered 'out' in society: "A 'flapper', we may explain, is a young lady who has not yet been promoted to long frocks and the wearing of her hair 'up'". The earliest documented use in the sense of "attractive young girl" is in the 1903 novel Sandford of Merton by Desmond Coke: "There's a stunning flapper.". The word also suggested a spirited girl of unconventional or mischievous disposition. An advertisement in The Times reads: "The father of a young lady, aged 15 – a typical “FLAPPER” – with all the self assurance of a woman of 30 would be grateful for the recommendation of a seminary (not a convent) where she might be placed for a year or two with the object of taming her." By 1912 the word had apparently both crossed the Atlantic and evolved to mean a slightly older girl: British stage impresario John Tiller defined it for readers of The New York Times as meaning "a girl who has just "come out". She is at an awkward age, neither a child nor a woman...". The word had clearly caught on, as a Mme. Nordica is quoted using it in The New York Times of January 1, 1913: "...a thin little flapper of a girl donning a skirt in which she can hardly take a step, extinguishing all but her little white teeth with a dumpy bucket of a hat..." By 1920 in England it clearly meant any young woman of a pleasure-seeking disposition: a Dr R. Murray-Leslie criticized "the social butterfly type...the frivolous, scantily-clad, jazzing flapper, irresponsible and undisciplined, to whom a dance, a new hat, or a man with a car, were of more importance than the fate of nations."

Words you can make from flapper

77 playable · top: FRAPPE (13 pts)

Best play frappe 13 points

6-letter words

2 words

5-letter words

10 words

4-letter words

29 words

3-letter words

23 words

2-letter words

12 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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