Library / English Dictionary

SLAP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: slapped    , slapping   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand

Synonyms:

slap; smack; smacking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("slap" is a kind of...):

blow (a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "slap"):

spank (a slap with the flat of the hand)

Derivation:

slap (hit with something flat, like a paddle or the open hand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A blow from a flat object (as an open hand)

Synonyms:

slap; smack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("slap" is a kind of...):

blow; bump (an impact (as from a collision))

Derivation:

slap (hit with something flat, like a paddle or the open hand)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hit with something flat, like a paddle or the open hand

Example:

a gunshot slapped him on the forehead

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "slap" is one way to...):

strike (deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "slap"):

cuff; whomp (hit with the hand)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to slap his opponent

Derivation:

slap (the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand)

slap (a blow from a flat object (as an open hand))

slapper (a hitter who slaps (usually another person) with an open hand)

 III. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Directly

Example:

ran slap into her

Synonyms:

bang; bolt; slap; slapdash; smack

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He slapped the German upon the shoulder with a rough familiarity from which the other winced.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They hurled stones, wielded sticks and clubs and whips, administered slaps and clouts, and, when they touched him, were cunning to hurt with pinch and twist and wrench.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

François cried, slapping his thighs gleefully.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He was grave and pale now, and looked decidedly more like the novel heroes whom she admired, but he neither slapped his forehead nor tramped about the room as they did.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“By the rood!” he broke out suddenly, slapping his thigh with his great red hand, “I knew that there was something a-missing, but I could not bring to my mind what it was.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This is like giving ourselves a slap, to be sure! and it was but yesterday I was telling Mr. Cole, I really was ashamed to look at our new grand pianoforte in the drawing-room, while I do not know one note from another, and our little girls, who are but just beginning, perhaps may never make any thing of it; and there is poor Jane Fairfax, who is mistress of music, has not any thing of the nature of an instrument, not even the pitifullest old spinet in the world, to amuse herself with.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Little Toto, now that he had an enemy to face, ran barking toward the Lion, and the great beast had opened his mouth to bite the dog, when Dorothy, fearing Toto would be killed, and heedless of danger, rushed forward and slapped the Lion upon his nose as hard as she could, while she cried out: Don't you dare to bite Toto!

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Between them an elderly, grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light tweed suit, had evidently just completed the wedding service, for he pocketed his prayer-book as we appeared, and slapped the sinister bridegroom upon the back in jovial congratulation.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“To drink?” returned Miss Mowcher, stopping to slap his cheek.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“And a good man too!” roared Belcher, slapping his thigh with a crack like a pistol-shot.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)