afterclapn.
/ˈɑːftəklap/, /ˈaftəklap/, U.S. /ˈæftərˌklæp/ 1. An act or effect occurring after the conclusion of some affair or incident, esp. when unexpected or undesirable; an unwelcome consequence or surprise; (also) a later threat.
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the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > [noun] > cause of surprise > subsequent
afterclapc1330
backblowa1649
aftershock1848
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 499 Of afterclap he hadde care Þat he schuld forfare.
?c1425 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Royal 17 D.vi) (1860) 31 Age..Quenchethe your love and your benevolence..That after-clap in my mynde so depe Ifycched is..That alle my joye and myrthe is leide to slepe.
1535 H. Latimer Serm. I. 27 He [sc. the Devil] can give us an after-clap, when we least ween.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. lijv To prouyde for after clappes that might happen and chaunce.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. iii. 429/1 Who fearing after-claps, had strongly fortified the Castle.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 163 What plaguy mischiefs and mishaps Do dog him still with after-claps!
a1753 P. Drake Memoirs (1755) II. iii. 162 I desired a Receipt to prevent any Afterclaps, which he readily granted.
1785 Daily Universal Reg. 17 Jan. I love merry meetings and good cheer, especially at free cost, or without any after-claps.
1811 H. Macneill Bygane Times 37 Sae, on he drave wi' whirling speed, Nor o' an after-clap took head.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xviii. 101 He shrinked and sheered away from whales, for fear of after-claps, in case he got stove.
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 4 It's al'ays best be earful an' sen' some one as knows thar business an' then theer' s no afterclaps.
1909 T. N. Allen Chron. of Oldfields 134 You can tumble into bed and sleep it off,..and the only after claps would be a headache in the morning.
1945 Morning Herald (Hagerstown, Maryland) 20 Nov. 10/1 One of the afterclaps of the two World Wars has been international marital relations.
1996 R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage 14/2 I hear Tom is messing with drugs. I hope he can stand the after-claps.
2. A later event that reproduces some of the features of an earlier one; (literal) a second or further clap of thunder.
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1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xxxv. 135 He stript up his sleeves and defended Mr Ingham on his front door-steps during the after-clap that followed the blow-up of the Cabinet.
1862 S. Lucas Secularia 12 The mitigated afterclap of this [French] Revolution, in 1848.
1885 J. Irving West of Scotl. in Hist. 194 Mr. Marwick's volume is just sufficiently near the time to let us hear an after-clap or two of the great Reformation struggle.
1906 M. Reed Spinner in Sun xiii. 196 Over and over again, the words rang through his consciousness. Then, like an afterclap of thunder: Father does the square thing!
1921 Munsey's Mag. Nov. 298/2 [His] voice vibrated throughout the hollows, like the quavering bass of an afterclap of thunder.
a2005 E. S. Pomeroy Amer. Far West in 20th Cent. (2008) xi. 375 Brief afterclaps of socialism in California and Washington alarmed the New Dealers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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