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.
- Flap, flap / fly the birds As they carry their little ones / back to the nest.
— from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems - 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 - I will flap my wings at once, that they may hear us coming.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - 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 - On the inside of the flap he wrote “S. H. for J. O.”
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - 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 - 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 - 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 - A dusky tumult would flap its wings from one house to another.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 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