aflap

aflap

English

Etymology

a- +‎ flap

Adjective

aflap (not comparable)

1. Flapping.
   • 1894, George Lansing Raymond, The Aztec God, Act 3, in The Aztec God and Other Dramas, New York: Putnam, 1908, p. 66,

     and she / A vulture feasting with foul wings aflap

   • 1984, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Auckland: Spiral, 1985, Part 3, Chapter 7, p. 292,

     nodding her head firmly, headscarf aflap

   • 2013, Richard House, The Kills, London: Picador, “The Hit,” p. 806,

     […] a woman in a gaberdine comes staggering out from the roadside, hands aflap, shoeless but on the run.

2. Filled (with something flapping).
   • 1908, Eugene Wood, Folks Back Home, New York: The McClure Company, p. 46,

     They walked up Main Street, which was all aflap with American flags […]

   • 1962, James Kirkup, These Horned Islands, New York: Macmillan, Chapter 10, p. 152,

     Clothes-drying lofts, open frameworks on the flat roofs of houses, all aflap with clothes, sheets, kimono, reminded me of Canaletto’s pictures of Venetian life […]

   • 2003, Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin, London: Serpent’s Tail, 2005, p. 118,

     […] the buses bursting with cackling passengers three times over capacity and aflap with chickens.

3. (colloquial) Showing excessive excitement or anger.

   Synonym: in a flap

   • 1977, Niel Hancock, Calix Stay, New York: Fawcett Popular Library, p. 93,

     “First he says we isn’t welcome, then he’s all aflap cause some of us is gone.”

   • 1994, Bernice Morgan, Waiting for Time, St. John’s, NL: Breakwater, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 53,

     […] people are barely over our givin’ that extra quota of cod to the French, now they’re all aflap about selling spawny caplin to the Japanese […]