flap

verb (flaps, flapping, flapped)

• (of a bird) move (its wings) up and down when flying or preparing to fly:a pheasant flapped its wings [no object]:gulls flapped around uttering their strange cries
• [no object] (of something attached at one point or loosely fastened) flutter or wave around:the tent bent with the gale, and the corners flapped furiously
• wave (something) around or at something or someone:she flapped the duster angrily she began flapping her arms to drive away the permeating cold
• strike or attempt to strike (something) loosely with one’s hand, a cloth, or a broad implement, especially to drive it away.

noun

• 1a piece of something thin, such as cloth, paper, or metal, hinged or attached only on one side, that covers an opening or hangs down from something:the flap of the envelope he pushed through the tent flap
• a hinged or sliding section of an aircraft wing used to control lift:flaps are normally moved by the hydraulics a final approach at sixty knots with 45° of flap
• a large broad mushroom.
• Phonetics a type of consonant produced by allowing the tip of the tongue to strike the alveolar ridge very briefly.

• 2a movement of a wing or an arm from side to side or up and down:the surviving bird made a few final despairing flaps
• [in singular] the sound of something making a flapping movement:hear the coo of the dove, the flap of its wings

• 3 [in singular] informal a state of agitation; a panic:they’re in a flap over who’s going to take Henry’s lectures