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# flapping

«flapping» in Mova's school dictionary: **moving wings or arms up and down quickly** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb, the -ing form of «flap» (flap, flaps, flapped, flapping); adjective (flapping); noun (flapping)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Flapping means moving wings or arms up and down quickly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#m1)

2) Flapping means moving loosely back and forth, like a flag or a sail in the wind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#m2)

3) Flapping (informal, British) can mean being nervous and worried, in a flap. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons on flight, birds fly by flapping their wings; some birds glide without flapping. In everyday life, flags, tents and washing flap in the wind. In stories it shows wind, movement or panic. Phrases: «flapping wings», «flapping in the wind», «stop flapping».

### examples

- The bird was flapping its wings to take off. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x1)
- The flag was flapping in the strong wind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x2)
- The tent door kept flapping all night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x3)
- Ducks were flapping and splashing on the pond. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x4)
- Stop flapping, we'll find your keys! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x5)
- He ran around flapping his arms like a chicken. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x6)
- Hummingbirds keep flapping their wings very fast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x7)
- The tame crow stood in the door-way flapping her wings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flapping/#x8)

### note

Double «p»: flap, flapped, flapping. Noun «flap» can mean a loose cover, like an envelope flap or a cat flap. In science, a hummingbird flaps its wings many times each second; problems may ask how many flaps in a given time (multiply).

### 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/)
- [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/)
- [Flapping pushes air down and back, so the bird is pushed up and forward.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/4/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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