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# flap

«flap» in Mova's school dictionary: **to move up and down or from side to side quickly, like a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (flap, flaps, flapped, flapping); noun (a flap, flaps)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To flap is to move up and down or from side to side quickly, like a bird's wings or a flag in the wind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#m1)

2) A flap is a flat piece of paper, cloth or other material fixed along one side, that covers an opening, like the flap of an envelope or a cat flap. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#m2)

3) Informally, a flap is a state of worry and fuss: «Don't get in a flap». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons birds flap their wings to fly; aeroplane wings have flaps. In everyday life envelopes, pockets, tents and lift-the-flap books have flaps; a cat flap lets the cat in. Phrases: «flap its wings», «a cat flap», «lift the flap», «in a flap».

### examples

- The bird flapped its wings and flew away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x1)
- The flag flapped in the wind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x2)
- Lick the flap and seal the envelope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x3)
- Our cat comes in through the cat flap. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x4)
- My little brother loves lift-the-flap books. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x5)
- Don't get in a flap; we have plenty of time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x6)
- The tent flap blew open in the night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x7)
- Quietly he lifted the door-flap and entered in. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/#x8)

### note

Regular verb with double «p»: flapped, flapping. Countable noun. «In a flap» is informal for «worried and in a hurry».

### In the corpora

- [Elephant ears are full of blood vessels, and flapping them cools the blood; African elephants have much bigger ears than Asian elephants.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory/12/)
- [Elephants recognise old friends after years apart and greet them noisily with rumbles, ear flapping and trunk touches.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory/15/)
- [The alligator snapping turtle lures fish with a pink worm-shaped flap on its tongue and then snaps its jaws shut.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/16/)
- [Sugar gliders are tiny marsupials with skin flaps between their legs that can glide about fifty metres from tree to tree at night.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/167-australias-forests-and-tasmania-devils-cassowaries-and-lyrebirds/14/)
- [In autumn they fly about 10,000 kilometres to Africa, soaring on rising warm air instead of flapping.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «flap» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flap/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.