"flapper" meaning in English

See flapper in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈflæpɚ/ [General-American] Audio: en-us-flapper.ogg [US] Forms: flappers [plural]
Rhymes: -æpə(ɹ) 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 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." Head templates: {{en-noun}} flapper (plural flappers)
  1. (colloquial, historical) A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not "out" socially. Tags: colloquial, historical
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-RCgRcGSO
  2. (colloquial, chiefly 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. Tags: colloquial, historical Categories (topical): Female people, Stock characters Categories (lifeform): Animal body parts, Baby animals Translations (young unconventional woman): garçonne [feminine] (French), maschietta [feminine] (Italian), флэппер (flɛpper) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-96ncqjcp Disambiguation of Female people: 5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22 Disambiguation of Stock characters: 5 22 9 13 14 16 4 17 Disambiguation of Animal body parts: 3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25 Disambiguation of Baby animals: 3 30 11 19 7 12 2 15 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -er (relational) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 12 88 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Disambiguation of 'young unconventional woman': 17 83
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: flapperdom, flapperesque, flapperhood, flapperism, flapper pie Related terms: modern girl
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈflæpɚ/ [General-American] Audio: en-us-flapper.ogg [US] Forms: flappers [plural]
Rhymes: -æpə(ɹ) Etymology: flap (verb) + -er Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|flap|er|id2=agent noun|pos1=verb}} flap (verb) + -er Head templates: {{en-noun}} flapper (plural flappers)
  1. One who or that which flaps. Categories (topical): Female people
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-AWQAiC7m Disambiguation of Female people: 5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22 Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -er (relational), English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 17 30 20 30 4
  2. (hunting) A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck. Categories (topical): Hunting Categories (lifeform): Ducks
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-GxaT2ZMm Disambiguation of Ducks: 3 19 9 30 11 13 1 13 Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -er (relational), English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 17 30 20 30 4 Topics: hobbies, hunting, lifestyle
  3. A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming. Categories (topical): Female people Categories (lifeform): Animal body parts
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-WksLyGAP Disambiguation of Female people: 5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22 Disambiguation of Animal body parts: 3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25 Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -er (relational), English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 17 30 20 30 4
  4. (plumbing) A flapper valve. Categories (lifeform): Animal body parts
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-YZvqzipe Disambiguation of Animal body parts: 3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25 Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -er (relational), English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 17 30 20 30 4 Topics: business, construction, manufacturing, plumbing
  5. (slang) The hand. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-yzkRd6ba
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: fire flapper, flapper board, flapper skate, flapper valve
Etymology number: 2

Noun

IPA: /ˈflæpɚ/ [General-American] Audio: en-us-flapper.ogg [US] Forms: flappers [plural]
Rhymes: -æpə(ɹ) Etymology: flap (noun) + -er Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|flap|er|id2=relational|pos1=noun}} flap (noun) + -er Head templates: {{en-noun}} flapper (plural flappers)
  1. (climbing) Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult. Categories (topical): Climbing, Climbing, Female people, Injuries Categories (lifeform): Animal body parts Related terms: flappergast
    Sense id: en-flapper-en-noun-zZqxR2cZ Disambiguation of Climbing: 2 11 4 5 23 11 1 43 Disambiguation of Female people: 5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22 Disambiguation of Injuries: 1 14 5 6 15 6 1 50 Disambiguation of Animal body parts: 3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25 Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -er (relational) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (relational): 5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17 Topics: climbing, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for flapper meaning in English (16.5kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "flapperdom"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "flapperesque"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "flapperhood"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "flapperism"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "flapper pie"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "possible etymologies\nPossibly 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'\".\nThe 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 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.\"\nBy 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...\"\nBy 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.\"",
  "forms": [
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      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "flapper (plural flappers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "modern girl"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 16, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan",
          "text": "Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not \"out\" socially."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-RCgRcGSO",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, historical) A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not \"out\" socially."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "12 88",
          "kind": "other",
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          "_dis": "3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25",
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          "orig": "en:Animal body parts",
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          "_dis": "3 30 11 19 7 12 2 15",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Baby animals",
          "orig": "en:Baby animals",
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          "_dis": "5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22",
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          "orig": "en:Female people",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "5 22 9 13 14 16 4 17",
          "kind": "topical",
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          "orig": "en:Stock characters",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922 April 16, Margaret O'Leary, “More Ado About the Flapper”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Rena Sanderson, “8: Women in Fitzgerald's Fiction”, in Ruth Prigozy, editor, The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, page 143",
          "text": "F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known as a chronicler of the 1920s and as the writer who, more than any other, identified, delineated, and popularized the female representative of that era, the flapper. Though it is an overstatement to say that Fitzgerald created the flapper, he did, with considerable assistance from his wife Zelda, offer the public an image of a young woman who was spoiled, sexually liberated, self-centered, fun-loving, and magnetic. […] Although she is often seen now as a mere fashion of the bygone Jazz Age, the flapper should be regarded as one of the great authentic characters in American history.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America, page 125",
          "text": "Among McPherson's most passionate and visible advocates were Southern California's young flappers, who turned out in droves to cheer on the evangelist. While most fundamentalists vehemently criticized flappers, viewing them as symbols of moral decay and the decline of Victorian gender identities, McPherson had embraced them. Critics of her Bible college identified the young female ministers with whom she surrounded herself not as holdouts to Victorianism, but as outright flappers. The press even dubbed one of McPherson's most successful young protégés the flapper evangelist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-96ncqjcp",
      "links": [
        [
          "unconventional",
          "unconventional"
        ],
        [
          "decorum",
          "decorum"
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        [
          "Jazz Age",
          "Jazz Age"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, chiefly 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."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "historical"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "young unconventional woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "garçonne"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "young unconventional woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "maschietta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "flɛpper",
          "sense": "young unconventional woman",
          "word": "флэппер"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "fire flapper"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "flapper board"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "flapper skate"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "flapper valve"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "flap",
        "3": "er",
        "id2": "agent noun",
        "pos1": "verb"
      },
      "expansion": "flap (verb) + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "flap (verb) + -er",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flappers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "senses": [
    {
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          "_dis": "5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17",
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          "_dis": "17 30 20 30 4",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who or that which flaps."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-AWQAiC7m",
      "links": [
        [
          "flaps",
          "flap#English"
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    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Hunting",
          "orig": "en:Hunting",
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          "source": "w"
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        {
          "_dis": "3 19 9 30 11 13 1 13",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Ducks",
          "orig": "en:Ducks",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1904, F. Henry Yorke, \"Our American Game Birds: Their Life History and Mode of Hunting Them,\" Field and Stream, Vol. 9, no. 3 (July 1904), pp. 255—56",
          "text": "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."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-GxaT2ZMm",
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        [
          "hunting",
          "hunting#Noun"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(hunting) A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "hunting",
        "lifestyle"
      ]
    },
    {
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        {
          "_dis": "3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
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        {
          "_dis": "5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Female people",
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          "parents": [
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            "Sociology",
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            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Arabella B. Buckley, A Short History of Natural Science and of the Progress of Discovery from the Time of the Greeks to the Present Day",
          "text": "the flapper of a porpoise",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1878, William H. G. Kingston, The Three Admirals, page 46",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-WksLyGAP",
      "links": [
        [
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        [
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        [
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        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17",
          "kind": "other",
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        {
          "_dis": "17 30 20 30 4",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
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          "orig": "en:Animal body parts",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, David Day, Albert Jackson, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to, page 356",
          "text": "In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flapper valve."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-YZvqzipe",
      "links": [
        [
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          "flapper valve"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(plumbing) A flapper valve."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "construction",
        "manufacturing",
        "plumbing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "The hand."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-yzkRd6ba",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) The hand."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "flap",
        "3": "er",
        "id2": "relational",
        "pos1": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "flap (noun) + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "flap (noun) + -er",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flappers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "flapper (plural flappers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Climbing",
          "orig": "en:Climbing",
          "parents": [
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "5 14 11 21 12 18 2 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er (relational)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 14 6 8 29 14 2 25",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Animal body parts",
          "orig": "en:Animal body parts",
          "parents": [
            "Body parts",
            "Animals",
            "Body",
            "Anatomy",
            "Lifeforms",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 11 4 5 23 11 1 43",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Climbing",
          "orig": "en:Climbing",
          "parents": [
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "5 27 14 2 19 10 1 22",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Female people",
          "orig": "en:Female people",
          "parents": [
            "Female",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 14 5 6 15 6 1 50",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Injuries",
          "orig": "en:Injuries",
          "parents": [
            "Health",
            "Pathology",
            "Body",
            "Medicine",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult."
      ],
      "id": "en-flapper-en-noun-zZqxR2cZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "climbing",
          "climbing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "injury",
          "injury"
        ],
        [
          "grip",
          "grip"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(climbing) Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "flappergast"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "climbing",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (relational)",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
    "en:Animal body parts",
    "en:Baby animals",
    "en:Climbing",
    "en:Ducks",
    "en:Female people",
    "en:Injuries",
    "en:Stock characters"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "flapperdom"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapperesque"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapperhood"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapperism"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapper pie"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "possible etymologies\nPossibly 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'\".\nThe 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 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.\"\nBy 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...\"\nBy 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.\"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flappers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "flapper (plural flappers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "modern girl"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 16, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan",
          "text": "Stud's eyes roved. Plenty of girls, most of them young flappers, Loretta's age. Only a couple of years ago they were kids.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not \"out\" socially."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, historical) A young girl usually between the ages of 15 and 18, especially one not \"out\" socially."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "historical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922 April 16, Margaret O'Leary, “More Ado About the Flapper”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Rena Sanderson, “8: Women in Fitzgerald's Fiction”, in Ruth Prigozy, editor, The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald, page 143",
          "text": "F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known as a chronicler of the 1920s and as the writer who, more than any other, identified, delineated, and popularized the female representative of that era, the flapper. Though it is an overstatement to say that Fitzgerald created the flapper, he did, with considerable assistance from his wife Zelda, offer the public an image of a young woman who was spoiled, sexually liberated, self-centered, fun-loving, and magnetic. […] Although she is often seen now as a mere fashion of the bygone Jazz Age, the flapper should be regarded as one of the great authentic characters in American history.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America, page 125",
          "text": "Among McPherson's most passionate and visible advocates were Southern California's young flappers, who turned out in droves to cheer on the evangelist. While most fundamentalists vehemently criticized flappers, viewing them as symbols of moral decay and the decline of Victorian gender identities, McPherson had embraced them. Critics of her Bible college identified the young female ministers with whom she surrounded herself not as holdouts to Victorianism, but as outright flappers. The press even dubbed one of McPherson's most successful young protégés the flapper evangelist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unconventional",
          "unconventional"
        ],
        [
          "decorum",
          "decorum"
        ],
        [
          "Jazz Age",
          "Jazz Age"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, chiefly 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."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "young unconventional woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "garçonne"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "young unconventional woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "maschietta"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "flɛpper",
      "sense": "young unconventional woman",
      "word": "флэппер"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (relational)",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
    "en:Animal body parts",
    "en:Baby animals",
    "en:Climbing",
    "en:Ducks",
    "en:Female people",
    "en:Injuries",
    "en:Stock characters"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "fire flapper"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapper board"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapper skate"
    },
    {
      "word": "flapper valve"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "flap",
        "3": "er",
        "id2": "agent noun",
        "pos1": "verb"
      },
      "expansion": "flap (verb) + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "flap (verb) + -er",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flappers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "flapper (plural flappers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "One who or that which flaps."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "flaps",
          "flap#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Hunting"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1904, F. Henry Yorke, \"Our American Game Birds: Their Life History and Mode of Hunting Them,\" Field and Stream, Vol. 9, no. 3 (July 1904), pp. 255—56",
          "text": "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."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hunting",
          "hunting#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(hunting) A young game bird just able to fly, particularly a wild duck."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "hunting",
        "lifestyle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Arabella B. Buckley, A Short History of Natural Science and of the Progress of Discovery from the Time of the Greeks to the Present Day",
          "text": "the flapper of a porpoise",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1878, William H. G. Kingston, The Three Admirals, page 46",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flipper; a limb of a turtle, which functions as a flipper or paddle when swimming."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "flipper",
          "flipper"
        ],
        [
          "turtle",
          "turtle"
        ],
        [
          "paddle",
          "paddle"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, David Day, Albert Jackson, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to, page 356",
          "text": "In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flapper valve."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "flapper valve",
          "flapper valve"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(plumbing) A flapper valve."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "construction",
        "manufacturing",
        "plumbing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The hand."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) The hand."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (relational)",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/æpə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
    "en:Animal body parts",
    "en:Baby animals",
    "en:Climbing",
    "en:Ducks",
    "en:Female people",
    "en:Injuries",
    "en:Stock characters"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "flap",
        "3": "er",
        "id2": "relational",
        "pos1": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "flap (noun) + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "flap (noun) + -er",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flappers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "flapper (plural flappers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "flappergast"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Climbing"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "climbing",
          "climbing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "injury",
          "injury"
        ],
        [
          "grip",
          "grip"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(climbing) Any injury that results in a loose flap of skin on the fingers, making gripping difficult."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "climbing",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflæpɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æpə(ɹ)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flapper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg/En-us-flapper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-us-flapper.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flapper"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.