aflap
adjEtymology From a- + flap.
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
- nodding her head firmly, headscarf aflap1984, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Auckland: Spiral, published 1985, Part 3, Chapter 7, p. 292:
1 more example
- […] a woman in a gaberdine comes staggering out from the roadside, hands aflap, shoeless but on the run.2013, Richard House, “The Hit”, in The Kills, London: Picador, page 806:
2
Filled (with something flapping).
- They walked up Main Street, which was all aflap with American flags […]1908, Eugene Wood, Folks Back Home, New York: The McClure Company, page 46:
- 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 […]1962, James Kirkup, chapter 10, in These Horned Islands, New York: Macmillan, page 152:
1 more example
- […] the buses bursting with cackling passengers three times over capacity and aflap with chickens.2003, Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin, London: Serpent’s Tail, published 2005, page 118:
3
Colloquial Showing excessive excitement or anger.
- 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 […]