# slap
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English slappen, of uncertain origin, possibly imitative. Compare Low German Slappe (“slap”), whence also German Schlappe (“defeat”). Compare also Italian sleppa (“slap”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /slæp/
* Rhymes: -æp
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Noun

slap (countable and uncountable, plural slaps)
* (countable) A blow, especially one given with the open hand, or with something broad and flat.
    Hyponym: (to the head) cuff
    He gave me a friendly slap on the back as a sign of camaraderie.
* (countable) A sharp percussive sound like that produced by such a blow.
    the slap of my feet on the bathroom tiles
* (countable, music) The percussive sound produced in slap bass playing.
** 2019 August 15, Bob Stanley, “'Groovy, groovy, groovy': listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, in The Guardian‎:Havens goes into the terrific Freedom for an encore, which will turn out to be a highlight of the movie; its chopped guitar and conga slaps pre-empt late 90s R&B.
* (slang, uncountable) Makeup; cosmetics.
** 1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 123:Well, she schlumphed her Vera down the screech at a rate of knots, zhooshed up the riah, checked the slap in the mirror behind the bar, straightened up one ogle fake riah that had come adrift, and bold as brass orderlied over as fast as she could manage in those bats and, in her best lips, asked, if she could parker the omi a bevvy.
** Quoted in 2006, Matt Houlbrook, Queer London (page 151)
    If you had too much slap on when you went out . . . your mates say too much slap on your ecaf. Yeah. Oh really girl? Yes . . . Go in the lavs here and have a look.
* (slang, countable) An eye-catching sticker used in street art.
** 2019, Saskia Hufnagel, Duncan Chappell, The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime, page 859:[…] which seek to retake public space for their own expression, using graffiti, stickering, 'slaps' and street art to dissent from the commercialisation of the public sphere.

#### Derived terms

* back slap
* back-slapping
* bitch-slap
* bitch slap
* butt-slapping
* chain slap
* dickslap
* dope slap
* go slap off on
* happy slap
* happy slapping
* Iberian slap
* knee-slapping
* pimp slap
* pimp-slap
* slap and tickle
* slap-back
* slap bet
* slap bracelet
* slapdown
* slap fight
* slaphappy
* slap-headed
* slap in the face
* slap mark
* slap marker
* slap on the arm
* slap on the back
* slap on the hand
* slap on the wrist
* slap print
* slap shot
* slap skate
* thigh-slapping
* tight slap
* trout-slap
* trout slap
* turkey slap

#### Translations
### Verb

slap (third-person singular simple present slaps, present participle slapping, simple past and past participle slapped)
* (transitive) To give a slap to.
    Hyponym: (to the head) cuff
    She slapped him in response to the insult.
** 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:Mrs. Flanders rose, slapped her coat this side and that to get the sand off, and picked up her black parasol.
* (transitive) To cause something to strike soundly.
    He slapped the reins against the horse's back.
* (intransitive) To strike soundly against something.
    The rain slapped against the window-panes.
* (intransitive, stative, slang) To be excellent, especially when relating to music.
    Synonyms: bang, eat, rule, rock; see also Thesaurus:excel
    The band's new single slaps.
** 2019, “Glass Battles”, in PT Music Watch, number 1, page 35:There are some cinematic elements, but at the end of the day, the album fucking slaps.
** 2019 April, Gloria Perez, “Your Things”, in Your Mag, page 74:Also I will never get tired of the song "Motion Sickness" by Phoebe Bridgers. Shit slaps.
** 2019 November, Elly Watson, “The Great 2019 Debate”, in DIY, page 59:2016's 'Girls Like Me' still slaps to this day.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:slap.
* (transitive) To place, to put carelessly.
    We'd better slap some fresh paint on that wall.
** 2018, “The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets”, in Bob's Burgers:Louise Belcher: "On Monday there was supposed to be some big schoolboard inspection or something, so instead of cleaning the place up, what does the principal do? He panics. He and the janitor and the janitor's brother slap a wall where the door used to be." Gene Belcher: "Wall slap."
* (transitive, informal, figurative) To impose a penalty, etc. on (someone).
    I was slapped with a parking fine.
* (transitive, informal) To play slap bass on (an instrument).
** 2007, Jon Paulien, The Gospel from Patmos:With no drums, Black began slapping his bass to keep time while Moore's guitar leaped in and out of the melody line.

#### Derived terms

* slap bellies
* slap down
* slap leather
* slap my ass and call me Judy
* slap my ass and call me Sally
* slapper
* slap someone around
* slap someone five
* slap someone's wrist
* slap together
* slap-up
* wrist-slap

#### Translations
### Adverb

slap (not comparable)
* Exactly, precisely
    He tossed the file down slap in the middle of the table.
** 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:You just take my orders, Cap’n Hawkins, and we’ll sail slap in and be done with it.
** 1864, Tony Pastor, John F. Poole, Tony Pastor's Complete Budget of Comic Songs, page 63:They called the tom-cat to the trap, / Who molrowed as he smelt at the door, O— / Opened his mouth and swallowed him slap, / All the while most profanely he swore, O!

#### Synonyms

* just, right, slap bang, smack dab; see also Thesaurus:exactly

#### Derived terms

* slap-bang

#### Translations
### Adjective

slap (comparative more slap, superlative most slap)
* (slang, UK) Very good, excellent, amazing.
    These cookies are slap.

### See also

* slap chip (etymologically unrelated)

### Anagrams

* salp, alps, ASPL, Alps, APLS, Plas, PALs, pals, ALPs, Pals, PLAs, laps, PALS, LPAs, SPLA, APLs

## Czech
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *solpъ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈslap]

### Noun

slap m inan
* (dated) rapid, shoot, chute, fall

#### Declension
### References

* ↑ Václav Machek (1968) “slap”, in Etymologický slovník jazyka českého [Etymological Dictionary of the Czech Language], 2nd edition, Prague: Academia, page 552

### Further reading

* “slap”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “slap”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
* “slap”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

## Danish
### Pronunciation

* Rhymes: -ap

### Etymology 1

From Middle Low German slap, from Proto-Germanic *slap-, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to be weak, limp, languid”), see also Latin labō (“fluctuate, waver”).

#### Adjective

slap
* loose
* limp
* slack
* weak (muscles)
* flaccid
* lax

##### Inflection

$^1$ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. $^2$ The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

slap
* past of slippe

### References

* “slap” in Den Danske Ordbog
* ↑ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “slap”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch slap, from Proto-Germanic *slap-, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to be weak, limp, languid”), see also Latin labō (“fluctuate, waver”). Cognate with German schlaff and schlapp.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /slɑp/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: slap
* Rhymes: -ɑp

### Adjective

slap (comparative slapper, superlative slapst)
* slack
* weak

#### Derived terms

* slapheid
* slapjanus
* slappeling
* slapperik
* slapte
* verslappen

#### Descendants

* → Papiamentu: slap

### References

* ↑ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “slap”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

### Anagrams

* plas

## Khasi
### Noun

slap m
* rain

### References

* Singh, U Nissor (1906) Khasi-English dictionary‎, Shillong: Eastern Bengal and Assam Secretariat Press, page 205. Searchable online at SEAlang.net.

## Old Saxon
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *slāp. Compare Old English slǣp, Old High German slāf.

### Noun

slāp m
* sleep

#### Declension
## Scots
### Noun

slap (plural slaps)
* A gap in a fence.
** 1790, Robert Burns, Tam o' Shanter:The mosses, waters, slaps and stiles, / That lie between us and our hame(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* A narrow cleft between hills.

### Verb

slap
* (transitive) To break an opening in.

## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *solpъ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /slâːp/

### Noun

slȃp m (Cyrillic spelling сла̑п)
* (geology) waterfall

#### Declension
### References

* “slap”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

## Slovene
### Alternative forms

* ſlap (Bohorič alphabet)

### Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *solpъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *salpás, probably from Proto-Indo-European *sel-.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sláːp/
* Rhymes: -aːp
* Hyphenation: slap
* Homophone: slab

### Noun

slȃp m inan
* (geology) waterfall
    Synonym: vodopad
* (by extension) a large amount of something falling or curving downwards
* (obsolete or regional) wave
    Synonyms: val, prival, valček
* (obsolete) storm
    Synonyms: nevihta, divja jaga
* (obsolete) vapor
    Synonym: hlap
* (obsolete, Prekmurje Slovene) gale, storm
    Synonyms: veter, brisavica, vetrc, vetrček, vetrič, vetriček

#### Derived terms

* Slap
* Slap ob Idrijci
* Slapčȃn
* Slȃpčanka
* Slápənc
* slápənski
* Slapnik
* slȃpnik
* slȃpski

### See also

* reka (“river”)
* previs (“cliff”)

### Further reading

* “slap”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
* “slap”, in Termania, Amebis
* See also the general references

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /esˈlap/ [esˈlap]
* Rhymes: -ap

### Noun

slap m (plural slaps)
* (Peru) flip-flop, thong (Australia), jandal (New Zealand)
    Synonyms: bamba, chancla, (Venezuela) chola, (Argentina) ojota, (Peru) sayonara

## Tày
### Pronunciation

* (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA: [ɬaːp̚˧˥]
* (Trùng Khánh) IPA: [θaːp̚˦]

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Tai *saːpᴰ.

#### Noun

slap
* cockroach

### Etymology 2
#### Adverb

slap
* in a quiet whispery, breathy, hushed voice
    phuối slap vạ căn ― to whisper each other

### References

* Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội