dap

See also: DAP, dåp, and đạp

English

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /dæp/
  • Rhymes: -æp

Noun

dap (plural daps)

  1. (Bristol, Wales, usually in the plural) A plimsoll.
    • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library, Penguin Books (1988), page 169:
      I somehow expected them to shout obscenities, and was glad I had come ordinarily dressed, in a sports shirt, an old linen jacket, jeans and daps.

Verb

dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)

  1. (Bristol) To run or go somewhere quickly.
    I'll just dap down to the shop.
  2. (metalworking) To create a hollow indentation.
  3. (fishing) To drop the bait gently onto the surface of the water.

Etymology 2

US 1971,[1] originally by black soldiers during the Vietnam war,[2] associated with Black Power movement. Originally an elaborate handshake, later specifically a fistbump.

Verb originally give dap. Presumably onomatopoeic,[3] or influenced by tap, dab,[4] etc. Alternatively, from earlier slang usage as abbreviation of dapper. Also explained as an acronym, such as “Dignity for Afro People”[5] or “Dignity And Pride”;[6] this may be a backronym or unrelated,[4] but accords with phrasal use as “give DAP” (compare “give respect”). More speculative etymologies derive it from Vietnamese đẹp (“beautiful”),[7] though this is unlikely.

Noun

dap (plural daps)

  1. Elaborate handshake, especially hooking thumbs.
    • 1971, London Magazine, Volume 11, p. 33:
      ... where many officers look the other way when blacks ‘give dap’ (the power shake) ...
    • 1972, Sepia, Volume 21, p. 80:
      These bloods just give dap just so they won't be called Uncle Toms.
  2. A fistbump.

Verb

dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)

  1. To greet with a dap.

Synonyms

References
  1. Mark Jury, The Vietnam photo book (1971), p. 27
  2. The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, p. 271
  3. “dap” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
  4. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, p. 383
  5. Donald Kirk, Tell it to the Dead: Stories of a War (1975), p. 235
  6. Hamilton, LaMont (2014). "Five on the Black Hand Side: Origins and Evolutions of the Dap." Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Smithsonian Institution.
  7. Encyclopedia of African American History, p. 1080
  • The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English (2009), p. 271

Anagrams

Romanian

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [dap], [dap̚]

Interjection

dap

  1. Informal form of da.

Yola

Noun

dap

  1. tap, touch

References
  • J. Poole W. Barnes, A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy (1867)
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