FLAPPING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does flapping mean? 

• FLAPPING (noun)
  The noun FLAPPING has 1 sense:

1. the motion made by flapping up and down

  Familiarity information: FLAPPING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLAPPING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The motion made by flapping up and down

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

flap; flapping; flutter; fluttering

Hypernyms ("flapping" is a kind of...):

undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)

Derivation:

flap (move noisily)

flap (move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion)

flap (move with a flapping motion)

flap (move with a thrashing motion)

 Context examples 

There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have fallen asleep.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

To and fro, up and down, north, south, east, and west, the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoops and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly flapping canvas.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

"We discovered why birds don't need one: their flapping wings don't only offer propulsion — they also orient into the wind passively like a weathervane."

(Scientists discover how birds navigate crosswinds, National Science Foundation)

About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker’s overcoat was flapping from a furze-bush.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a great fluttering and flapping of canvas and reef-points, most welcome to my ears, then she filled away on the other tack.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

What went on there, Meg could not see, but shrieks of laughter were heard, followed by the murmur of voices and a great flapping of newspapers.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then came a heavy blow, and down he fell in the middle of the moonlit road, flapping and jumping among the dust like a trout new landed.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It had sprung from the perch and was circling slowly round the Queen's Hall with a dry, leathery flapping of its ten-foot wings, while a putrid and insidious odor pervaded the room.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These findings support the hypothesis flight could have evolved up from the ground, in contrast to models in which active flapping flight evolved after gliding, a passive form of flight.

(Scientific study suggests dinosaurs flapped their wings as they ran, Wikinews)

He turned and fled across the water-front, a meagre shadow in a flapping overcoat, with Martin straining to keep up with him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)