Word of the Day Archive
Thursday May 13, 2010
afterclap \AF-ter-klap\
, noun:
An unexpected, often unpleasant sequel to a matter that had been considered closed.
The afterclap of the rebellion struck down Abraham Lincoln. The first peal from the clouds of checked dictatorship, that had been flashing less vividly, and rumbling less loudly and at longer intervals for weeks,—like the chain lightning, and the ripping, tearing, striking thunder—laid low James Abram Garfield.
-- James Seymour Hoyt, The death of President Garfield: a sermon preached at Prospect Street Church
Many Norwegian fishermen who then voted for the present system of limited prohibition are now bewailing its afterclap in the depression of their industry.
-- "", Norway's Prohibition Dilemma, New York Times Current history, Volume 15
Although it is the combination of two common English words, afterclap mostly found use in a literary context until early American writers made the term more popular.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for afterclap