clapper

clapper

1. a contrivance for producing a sound of clapping, as for scaring birds

2. a slang word for tongue

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

clapper

[′klap·ər]

(electricity)

A hinged or pivoted relay armature.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

clapper

In fire sprinkler systems, a type of sealing assembly.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Clapper

 

an idiophonic percussion instrument, first made in the 1920’s. The clapper consists of a thin resilient steel plate in the shape of an extended triangle; the plate is attached to a wire frame with a handle. Two flexible rods with small wooden balls at the ends are fastened to the two opposite sides of the narrow end of the plate. When the clapper is played, the balls hit the plate, and the instrument emits a ringing, somewhat wailing sound. Notation is in the treble clef, and the instrument produces the actual notes written. The range is from C sharp in the third octave above middle C to D in the fourth octave.

REFERENCE

Rogal’-Levitskii, D. Sovremennyi orkestr, vol. 2. Moscow, 1953. Page 402.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.