/ · 1894 Brewer’s · C · Clapper
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A plank bridge over a stream; a ferry-gate. A roofing-board is called a clap-board.
“A little low and lonesome shed,
With a roof of clap-boards overhead.”
Alice Cary: Settlersʹ Christmas Eve.
Probably a corruption of clath-board, a covering board, from Anglo-Saxon, clath, a covering, whence our clothes.
⁂ Boards for making casks are also called “clap-boards.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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