Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Clapper.

 Clap-trap.Clapperclaw. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Clapper.
 
A plank bridge over a stream; a ferry-gate. A roofing-board is called a clap-board.   1
       
“A little low and lonesome shed,
With a roof of clap-boards overhead.”
       
Alice Cary: Settlers’ Christmas Eve.
   Probably a corruption of clath-board, a covering board, from Anglo-Saxon, clath, a covering, whence our clothes.   2
   Boards for making casks are also called “clap-boards.”   3
 


 Clap-trap.Clapperclaw. 

 
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