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Literary notes about flap (AI summary)

The word "flap" in literature proves itself remarkably versatile, functioning as both a vivid verb and a tangible noun. It often conveys the graceful motion of wings, as in the depiction of birds returning to their nest with a gentle "flap, flap" ([1]), or the delicate beat of a creature soaring through the sky ([2], [3]). In other contexts, "flap" denotes physical objects like the open part of an envelope ([4], [5]) or even the worn edge of a jacket, suggesting decay and abandonment ([6]). It can also animate inanimate items—a tent’s flap signaling entry or exit ([7], [8]) or sails and banners fluttering in the wind as if imbued with life ([9], [10]). Overall, the term enriches narrative imagery by evoking movement, texture, and an inherent sense of transition.
  1. Flap, flap / fly the birds As they carry their little ones / back to the nest.
    — from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems
  2. That last flap of the wings was so easy and graceful, that I shall give you permission to fly with me to-morrow to the marshes.
    — from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen
  3. I will flap my wings at once, that they may hear us coming.
    — from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen
  4. I took up the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gum, the letter K three times repeated.
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  5. On the inside of the flap he wrote “S. H. for J. O.”
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from the body, he could see that the side looked as if it had been chewed by wolves.
    — from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane
  7. In front was a small shelf above the window, and underneath a small flap which served as a table.
    — from A Diplomat in Japan by Ernest Mason Satow
  8. Extinguishing the last candle, and lowering the flap of the tent, she left it, and drove away.
    — from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
  9. A dusky tumult would flap its wings from one house to another.
    — from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  10. Have I not felt The lilt of waves beneath my boat, The flap of sail, The strain of mast, The wild rush Of the lightning-charged winds?
    — from The World I Live In by Helen Keller

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