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What is the difference between flap and flutter?

flap | flutter |

In transitive terms the difference between flap and flutter

is that flap is to move (something broad and loose) back and forth while flutter is to drive into disorder; to throw into confusion.

In intransitive terms the difference between flap and flutter

is that flap is to move loosely back and forth while flutter is of a winged animal: to flap the wings without flying; to fly with a light flapping of the wings.

flap

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • a cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larynx
  • *
  • A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
  • An upset, stir, scandal or controversy
  • The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it.
  • * , chapter=4
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.}}
  • A disease in the lips of horses.
  • (aviation) A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane.
  • (surgery) A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
  • (slang) The female genitals.

    • Synonyms

    * (upset)

    See also

    * ("flap" on Wikipedia) * * lappet

    Verb

    (flapp)
  • To move (something broad and loose) back and forth.
    • The crow slowly flapped its wings.
  • *
  • To move loosely back and forth.
    • The flag flapped in the breeze.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 29 , author=Tom Rostance , title=Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Former Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber flapped at his first Delap throw but was given a soft free-kick by referee Antony Gautier.}}

    Derived terms

    * cat flap * flapper * unflappable ----

    flutter

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To flap or wave quickly but irregularly.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered , then drooped?; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth.
  • (lb) Of a winged animal: to flap the wings without flying; to fly with a light flapping of the wings.
  • *1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
  • *:Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes.
  • (lb) To cause something to flap.
  • :
  • (lb) To drive into disorder; to throw into confusion.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Like an eagle in a dovecote, I / Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli.

    • Noun

    (wikipedia flutter) (en noun)
  • The act of fluttering; quick and irregular motion.
    • the flutter of a fan
  • * Milnes
    • the chirp and flutter of some single bird
  • A state of agitation.
    • (Alexander Pope)
  • * (Henry James)
    • Their visitor was an issue - at least to the imagination, and they arrived finally, under provocation, at intensities of flutter in which they felt themselves so compromised by his hoverings that they could only consider with relief the fact of nobody's knowing.
  • An abnormal rapid pulsation of the heart.
  • (British) A small bet or risky investment.
  • * 1915 : , Ch. 93
    • "Oh, by the way, I heard of a rather good thing today, New Kleinfonteins; it's a gold mine in Rhodesia. If you'd like to have a flutter you might make a bit."
  • * So with his victory odds currently at 14/1 or 3/1 for the podium, he's still most certainly well worth a flutter ... - Gray Matter: How will Schu do?
  • The rapid variation of signal parameters, such as amplitude, phase, and frequency.

    • Derived terms

    * flutter in the dovecote * flutterby