dap
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dæp/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -æp
Etymology 1
Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.
Noun
dap (plural daps)
- (West Country, Somerset, Bristol, Wales, usually in the plural) A plimsoll.
- 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 169:
- I somehow expected them to shout obscenities, and was glad I had come ordinarily dressed, in a sports shirt, an old linen jacket, jeans and daps.
- (carpentry) A notch cut in one timber to receive another.
- (slang) Vulva or vagina.
Verb
dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)
- (Bristol) To run or go somewhere quickly.
- I'll just dap down to the shop.
- (metalworking) To create a hollow indentation.
- (fishing) To drop the bait gently onto the surface of the water.
Etymology 2

US 1971,[1] originally by black soldiers during the Vietnam war,[2] associated with Black Power movement. Originally an elaborate handshake, later specifically a fistbump.
Verb originally give dap. Presumably onomatopoeic,[3] or influenced by tap, dab,[4] etc. Alternatively, from earlier slang usage as abbreviation of dapper. Also explained as an acronym, such as “Dignity for Afro People”[5] or “Dignity And Pride”;[6] this may be a backronym or unrelated,[4] but accords with phrasal use as “give DAP” (compare “give respect”). More speculative etymologies derive it from Vietnamese đẹp (“beautiful”),[7] though this is unlikely.
Noun
dap (plural daps)
Verb
dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)
- To greet with a dap.
Derived terms
Further reading
giving dap on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English (2009), p. 271
References
- Mark Jury, The Vietnam photo book (1971), p. 27
- The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, p. 271
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “dap”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, p. 383
- Donald Kirk, Tell it to the Dead: Stories of a War (1975), p. 235
- Hamilton, LaMont (2014). "Five on the Black Hand Side: Origins and Evolutions of the Dap." Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Smithsonian Institution.
- Encyclopedia of African American History, p. 1080
Rawang
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɑp̚˥/
Yola
Noun
dap
- Alternative form of dab
- 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 11, page 88:
- Up caame ee ball, an a dap or a kewe
- Up came the ball, and a tap or a shove
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 33
Zhuang
Pronunciation
- (Standard Zhuang) IPA(key): /taːp˧˥/
- Tone numbers: dap7
- Hyphenation: dap