flapper

flapper
flapper "forward young woman," 1921 slang, from FLAP (Cf. flap) (v.), but the exact connection is disputed. Perhaps from flapper "young wild-duck or partridge" (1747), with reference to flapping wings while learning to fly, of which many late 19c. examples are listed in Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900), including one that defines it as "A young partridge unable to fly. Applied in joke to a girl of the bread-and-butter age." But other suggested sources are late 19c. northern English dialectal use for "teen-age girl" (on notion of one with the hair not yet put up), or an earlier meaning "prostitute" (1889), which is perhaps from dialectal flap "young woman of loose character" (1610s). Any or all of these might have converged in the 1920s sense. Wright also has flappy, of persons, "wild, unsteady, flighty," with the note that it was also "Applied to a person's character, as 'a flappy lass,'" and further on he lists flappy sket (n.) "an immoral woman." In Britain the word took on political tones in reference to the debate over voting rights.
"Flapper" is the popular press catch-word for an adult woman worker, aged twenty-one to thirty, when it is a question of giving her the vote under the same conditions as men of the same age. ["Punch," Nov. 30, 1927]

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Flapper — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Louise Brooks, 1927 Flapper es un anglicismo que se utilizaba en los años 1920 para referirse a un nuevo tipo de mujeres jóvenes que usaban faldas cortas, no llevaban corsé, l …   Wikipedia Español

  • Flapper — Flap per, n. 1. One who, or that which, flaps. [1913 Webster] 2. See {Flipper}. The flapper of a porpoise. Buckley. [1913 Webster] {Flapper skate} (Zo[ o]l.), a European skate ({Raia intermedia}). [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • flapper — ► NOUN informal ▪ a fashionable and unconventional young woman of the 1920s …   English terms dictionary

  • flapper — [flap′ər] n. 1. a person or thing that flaps; esp., a) a flap b) a flipper c) something broad and flat for striking 2. a) a young wild duck, partridge, etc. just learning to fly b) Informal in the 1920s …   English World dictionary

  • Flapper — The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a new breed of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new Jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as… …   Wikipedia

  • Flapper — Joan Crawford in typischem Flapper Look In den 1920er Jahren bezeichnet der Ausdruck Flapper (engl. „jemand, der flattert“) eine neue „Art“ junger Frauen, die kurze Röcke und kurzes Haar trugen, Jazz hörten und sich über die Regeln des „guten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • flapper —    obsolete    a young woman who flouts convention    In northern English dialect, a young prostitute; in western England, a petticoat; in OED a young wild duck or partridge ; and in the 1920s a participant in the flapper era:     I was sure I… …   How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms

  • flapper — UK [ˈflæpə(r)] / US [ˈflæpər] noun [countable] Word forms flapper : singular flapper plural flappers a young woman in the 1920s who had short hair, wore short dresses, and had a lot of fun at parties …   English dictionary

  • Flapper — Flap|per 〈[flæ̣pə(r)] m. 3; umg.〉 selbstbewusstes, kesses junges Mädchen [<engl. flap „Klappe“, in der Bed. von „Großmaul“] * * * 1Flap|per [ flɛpɐ], der; s [engl. flapper, eigtl. = junge Wildente od. junges Rebhuhn, zu: to flap, ↑Flap]:… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Flapper — Flap|per [ flɛpɐ] der; s, <aus gleichbed. engl. amerik. flapper zu engl. to flap »flattern«> (in England u. Nordamerika) Bez. für ein selbstbewusstes junges Mädchen …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

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