claptrap en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
Theater slang, c. 1730, from clap + trap, referring to theatrical techniques or gags used to incite applause.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) 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:
- (countable, historical, uncountable) A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.
-
(countable, uncountable) 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:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| claptraps | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| clap-trap | alternative | lexicographic | |
| clap trap | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
hogwash · bull · crap · horse cock · BS · junk · bullspeak · rot · jargon · all my eye · nonsense · nertz · blatherskite · pie in the sky · blather · balls · shit · rigmarole · bafflegab · framis · humbug · gobbledygook · bilgewater · jabber · foolishness · Bandini · footle · flim-flam · santorum · hoax · pigswill · hooey · fuckery · garbage · palaver · jive · trash · horse hockey · put-on · jabberwocky · gibberish · baloney · moonshine · all my eye and Betty Martin · shite · folderol · macaroni · blah-blah-blah · fuckry · horse piss · gup · batcrap · bobbins · ruse · bushwah · gossip · galimatias · baragouin · applesauce · wass · poppycock · dribble · fiddle-faddle · drivel · skimble-skamble · horse puckey · absurdity · malarkey · jimjam · twaddle · double Dutch · squit · flapdoodle · bulldust · apple grease · batshit · blah · lallation · horseshit · garble · meaninglessness · stuff and nonsense · prattle · doublespeak · cobblers · rubbish · bollocks · eyewash · horsefeathers · bunkum · tripe · rhubarb · bunk · stuff · word salad · mumbo jumbo · piffle · bull feathers · balderdash · banana oil · tush · claptrap · bullshit · Greek · trittle trattle · clamjamfrey · Irish bull · guff · jibber-jabber · gibber · flizz · hot air · codswallop · bosh · hocus-pocus · manure · fudge · tosh · Gallophone · rhubarb rhubarb · whiff-whaff · double talk · crock of shit · hokum · crock · blah-blah · gash · waffle · bullcrap · tommy-rot · flummery
Translations (35)
gl verborrea (empty verbiage or nonsense) · mi kutukutuahi (empty verbiage or nonsense) · ca embrolla (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fi humpuuki (empty verbiage or nonsense) · it sproloquio (empty verbiage or nonsense) · gl barallada (empty verbiage or nonsense) · de Gequatsche (empty verbiage or nonsense) · ru чепуха́ (empty verbiage or nonsense) · de Geschwätz (empty verbiage or nonsense) · pl wodolejstwo (empty verbiage or nonsense) · nl Bombast (empty verbiage or nonsense) · es verborrea (empty verbiage or nonsense) · pl ambaje (empty verbiage or nonsense) · tr palavra (empty verbiage or nonsense) · de Gerede (empty verbiage or nonsense) · es palabrería (empty verbiage or nonsense) · sh bljezgarije (empty verbiage or nonsense) · gl faramalla (empty verbiage or nonsense) · mi kohe (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fi höpönpöpö (empty verbiage or nonsense) · ca algaravia (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fr charabia (empty verbiage or nonsense) · pl mowa-trawa (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fr galimatias (empty verbiage or nonsense) · sh glupost (empty verbiage or nonsense) · cs cancy (empty verbiage or nonsense) · mi ngutungutuahi (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fi hölynpöly (empty verbiage or nonsense) · nl Holle frasen (empty verbiage or nonsense) · es galimatías (empty verbiage or nonsense) · ca galimaties (empty verbiage or nonsense) · es algarabía (empty verbiage or nonsense) · fr verbiage (empty verbiage or nonsense) · ca embull (empty verbiage or nonsense) · pl pustosłowie (empty verbiage or nonsense)