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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

like the clappers en · ADP

Pronunciation

Etymology

Partridge says: "Possibly rhyming slang for 'clappers of a bell', 'hell'."

Meanings

  1. (UK, informal, qualifier:simile) Very hard or very rapidly.
    • In fact she made quite a nice little rider — a bit rough, like these Australians always were, but quite secure in her seat and going like the clappers. 2006, Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Dark:
    • We've gone through regional and rural Australia like the clappers, and everywhere we went, irate voters shouted at us and we stuck our heads out the windows and shouted: "What?" and the electorate respected us for it. 2001, The Bulletin, volumes 6264-6271:
    • After hurling their insults, they ran like the clappers to get away.
    • And when it started off they first studied them, and of course they went like the clappers to prove what they could do, which was the thing they shouldn't be doing because it was a study, and of course, they've got to work like the clappers all the time once it came into operation. 1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997:

Synonyms

like the clappers of fuck · like the clappers of hell

Translations (6)

es a toda leche (very hard or rapidly) · es escopetado (very hard or rapidly) · ca a tota llet (very hard or rapidly) · de in einem Affentempo (very hard or rapidly) · de wie die Feuerwehr (very hard or rapidly) · de sehr schnell (very hard or rapidly)