verb, flapped, flap⋅ping, noun | 1. | to swing or sway back and forth loosely, esp. with noise: A loose shutter flapped outside the window. |
| 2. | to move up and down, as wings; flap the wings, or make similar movements. |
| 3. | to strike a blow with something broad and flexible. |
| 4. | Slang. to become excited or confused, esp. under stress: a seasoned diplomat who doesn't flap easily. |
| 5. | to move (wings, arms, etc.) up and down. |
| 6. | to cause to swing or sway loosely, esp. with noise. |
| 7. | to strike with something broad and flat. |
| 8. | to toss, fold, shut, etc., smartly, roughly, or noisily. |
| 9. | Phonetics. to pronounce (a sound) with articulation resembling that of a flap: The British often flap their r's. |
| 10. | something flat and broad that is attached at one side only and hangs loosely or covers an opening: the flap of an envelope; the flap of a pocket. |
| 11. | either of the two segments of a book jacket folding under the book's front and back covers. |
| 12. | one leaf of a folding door, shutter, or the like. |
| 13. | a flapping motion. |
| 14. | the noise produced by something that flaps. |
| 15. | a blow given with something broad and flat. |
| 16. | Slang.
|
| 17. | Surgery. a portion of skin or flesh that is partially separated from the body and may subsequently be transposed by grafting. |
| 18. | Aeronautics. a movable surface used for increasing the lift or drag of an airplane. |
| 19. | Phonetics.
|
| 20. | Building Trades.
|

flap
|
flap (flāp)
n.
Tissue used in surgical grafting that is only partially detached from its donor site so that it continues to be nourished during transfer to the recipient site.
FLAP
A symbolic mathematics package for IBM 360.
["FLAP Programmer's Manual", A.H. Morris Jr., TR-2558 (1971) US Naval Weapons Lab].
[Sammet 1969, p. 506].
[The Jargon File]
(1994-10-17)
flap
1.
The term is used, by extension, for unloading any magnetic tape. See also macrotape. Modern cartridge tapes no longer actually flap, but the usage has remained.
The term could well be re-applied to DEC's TK50 cartridge tape drive, a spectacularly misengineered contraption which makes a loud flapping sound, almost like an old reel-type lawnmower, in one of its many tape-eating failure modes.
2.
[The Jargon File]
(1997-06-17)