Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Movies.
- a small board with a hinged stick attached that is clapped down at the beginning of the filming of a shot for use later in synchronizing sound and image in the editing of the film.
noun
- a pair of boards clapped together during film shooting in order to aid sound synchronization
noun
-
- a long thin timber board with one edge thicker than the other, used esp in the US and Canada in wood-frame construction by lapping each board over the one below
- (as modifier)a clapboard house
verb
- (tr) to cover with such boards
1520s, partial translation of Middle Dutch klapholt (borrowed into English late 14c. as clapholt), from klappen “to fit” + Low German holt “wood, board” (see holt). Cf. German Klappholz. Originally small boards of split oak, imported from northern Germany and cut by coopers to make barrel staves; the meaning “long, thin board used for roofing or to cover the exterior of wooden buildings” is from 1640s, American English.