Flap

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The word flap can refer to several things.

• In mechanics, a flap is any hinged plate often used as a cover or a simple one-way valve.

• A flap gate is a hinged mechanism to regulate tidal influx into a lagoon or slough.
• A cat flap is a hinged flap which allows a cat to enter or leave a room or building.
• A butt flap is a separately removable part of underwear (un)covering the buttocks

• In aeronautics:

• Flapping can also refer to a repetitive up-and-down motion most commonly associated with a bird's wing in flight. Birds flap to provide airflow against their wing, thereby generating lift. Larger wings are more efficient (a side-effect of their aspect ratio) so smaller birds must flap much more quickly, while larger birds can soar without flapping for long periods.
• Fuel tank filler flap (or remote fuel flap release)
• A flap (aircraft) is a hinged surface on the trailing edge of an airplane wing.
• A derisive slang term used to describe Air Force personnel, derived from the flap (aircraft).

• In plastic surgery, a free flap is a transfer of vascularised tissue.

• In phonetics and phonology, a flap consonant is a sound produced by brief contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

• In the phonology of English, flapping is a process by which a /t/ phoneme before an unstressed vowel is pronounced as a flap consonant.

• In computer science:

• telecommunications, the term flapping is likely to be used to refer to route flapping
• In archaic computer science jargon, flap refers to the process for unmounting a magnetic tape. When the system operator commanded a tape drive to unmount a tape, it would rewind the medium and then, as the tape unwrapped from the take-up reel, it would go "flap-flap-flap" as the feed reel spun down.

• A flap can refer to a wave of reports of sightings of objects or phenomena, such as UFOs.

• In biochemistry, FLAP is an acronym for 5-lipoxygenase activating protein.

• In derisive slang, a flap is an outer section of skin of a woman's vulva. The plural flaps is a pejorative term used in Scotland to describe a woman's labium after giving birth.

Different forms of the word:

• Flappers were women who wore a certain style of clothes in the 1920s.

• Unliscensed/unregulated horse and greyhound races in the UK and Ireland are known as flapping races and are run at flapping tracks.