Etymology From Latin applausus, from applaudō (“to strike against, to applaud”) (whence applaud).
1
Usually The act of applauding; approbation and praise publicly expressed by the clapping of hands, stamping or tapping of the feet, acclamation, huzzas, or other means; marked commendation.
A few days before, the adulations and applauses of a nation were sounding in her [Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma's] ears, and now she was come to this!1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), “”, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 535:
Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous impulse, we both broke at clapping, as at the well-wrought crisis of a play. […] It was at such moments that for an instant he [Sherlock Holmes] ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause.1904 April 30, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC, page 232:
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Livy never gets her share of those applauses, but it is because the people do not know. Yet she is entitled to the lion's share.1916, Albert Bigelow Paine, chapter 57, in The Boys’ Life of Mark Twain:
Rice’s celebrations upon his goal were controlled, muted. Not so those of Grealish, who lapped up the applause of the England fans behind the goal.2024 September 7, David Hytner, “Rice and Grealish start new England era with Nations League victory in Ireland”, in The Guardian:
There was a flutter of applause from the audience but, appreciatively, it quickly hushed itself.1916, Katherine Melvina Huntsinger Blackford, Arthur Newcomb, Analyzing Character, the New Science of Judging Men: Misfits in Business, the Home and Social Life, page 94:
But (which had ſcarrefide our wounds, if wounded, with the Balme / Of her ſweete Preſence, ſo applaus’d as in Sea-ſtormes a Calme) / Her royall-ſelfe, Elizabeth our Soueraigne lawfull Queene, / In magnanimious Maieſtie amidſt her Troupes was ſeene.1596, William Warner, chapter IL, in Albions England: A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants Thereof: […], 4th edition, London: […] [Joan] Orwin, for I[oan] B[roome] […], →OCLC, page 228:
Now Ahab ſees the ground of that applauſed conſent of his rabble of Prophets: […]1628, Ios[eph] Hall, “Ahab and Michaiah: or, The Death of Ahab”, in Contemplations. The Nineteenth Booke., London, →OCLC, page 1286:
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O ſacred Emperour, theſe ears have heard, / What no Sons ears can unrevenged hear, / The Princes all of them, but ſpecially, / The Prince Elector Archbiſhop of Collen, / Revil’d him by the names of murderer, / Arch villain, robber of the Empires fame, / And Cæſars tutor in all wickedneſs, / And with a general voice applaus’d his death, / As for a ſpecial good to Chriſtendome.1654, “Act. II.”, in The Tragedy of Alphonsus Emperour of Germany […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], →OCLC, page 20: