flap·per

(flăp′ər)

1. A broad flexible part, such as a flipper.

2. A young woman of the 1920s who rebelled against conventional ideas of ladylike behavior and dress.

[Sense 2, British Slang, very young female prostitute, flapper, possibly from flapper, fledgling partridge or duck (from flap) or from dialectal flap, loose or flighty girl.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

flapper

(ˈflæpə)

1. a person or thing that flaps

2. (Historical Terms) (in the 1920s) a young woman, esp one flaunting her unconventional dress and behaviour

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

flap•per

(ˈflæp ər)

n.

1. something broad and flat used for striking.

2. a broad flat hinged or hanging piece; flap.

3. a young woman flouting conventional behavior esp. in the 1920s.

Flapper

A name applied in the 1920s to young women who behaved in public in a somewhat risqu? manner.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

flapper - a young woman in the 1920s who flaunted her unconventional conduct and dress

fille, girl, miss, missy, young lady, young woman - a young woman; "a young lady of 18"

Translations

flapper

[ˈflæpəʳ] N (Hist) → joven f a la moda (de los 1920)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to afford it always keep a flapper

This flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his master in his walks, and upon occasion to give him a soft flap on his eyes; because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest danger of falling down every precipice, and bouncing his head against every post; and in the streets, of justling others, or being justled himself into the kennel.

After dinner my company withdrew, and a person was sent to me by the king's order, attended by a flapper. He brought with him pen, ink, and paper, and three or four books, giving me to understand by signs, that he was sent to teach me the language.

Among these the ladies choose their gallants: but the vexation is, that they act with too much ease and security; for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper and implements, and without his flapper at his side.

His majesty discovered not the least curiosity to inquire into the laws, government, history, religion, or manners of the countries where I had been; but confined his questions to the state of mathematics, and received the account I gave him with great contempt and indifference, though often roused by his flapper on each side.

While we were ascending, they forgot several times what they were about, and left me to myself, till their memories were again roused by their flappers; for they appeared altogether unmoved by the sight of my foreign habit and countenance, and by the shouts of the vulgar, whose thoughts and minds were more disengaged.

While we were at dinner, I made bold to ask the names of several things in their language, and those noble persons, by the assistance of their flappers, delighted to give me answers, hoping to raise my admiration of their great abilities if I could be brought to converse with them.

View in context

He could not persuade himself that she was a woman; because he had known her as a flapper, he could not help looking upon her as a child still; yet the number of her admirers showed that she was a child no longer; and though they had only been down a few days one of Sally's cousins was already so attentive that she had to endure a lot of chaffing.

View in context

The king he smiled eager, and shoved out his flapper, and says:

View in context

If about a dozen genera of birds had become extinct or were unknown, who would have ventured to have surmised that birds might have existed which used their wings solely as flappers, like the logger-headed duck(Micropterus of Eyton); as fins in the water and front legs on the land, like the penguin; as sails, like the ostrich; and functionally for no purpose, like the Apteryx.

View in context

`Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, `--Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.'

View in context

SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR may have slayed the opposition with that sexy flapper dress, but when it comes to the dance moves, she's not going to get very far with fourth ballet position.

Celebarama: Groomed or doomed: flapper dresses