claptrap
nounUK, US /ˈklæpˌtɹæp/
Etymology Theater slang, c. 1730, from clap + trap, referring to theatrical techniques or gags used to incite applause.
1
Empty verbiage or nonsense.
- Klein diagnoses impressively what hasn’t worked. No more claptrap about fracked gas as a bridge to renewables. Enough already of the international summit meetings that produce sirocco-quality hot air, and nonbinding agreements that bind us all to more emissions.2014 November 6, Rob Nixon, “Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’”, in The New York Times:
2
Historical A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.
3
A device or trick to gain applause; a humbug.
- There had been a suggestion that the child should be with her [while she answers the door], but the mother herself had rejected this. "It would be stagey," she had said, "and clap-trap. There is nothing I hate so much as that."1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 83:
- Derived terms
- claptrappery, claptrappy