Meanings
- UKinformalsimileVery hard or very rapidly.
After hurling their insults, they ran like the clappers to get away.
3 more examples
And when it started off they first studied them, and of course they went like the clappers to prove what they could do, which was the thing they shouldn't be doing because it was a study, and of course, they've got to work like the clappers all the time once it came into operation.
1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997We've gone through regional and rural Australia like the clappers, and everywhere we went, irate voters shouted at us and we stuck our heads out the windows and shouted: "What?" and the electorate respected us for it.
2001, The Bulletin, volumes 6264-6271In fact she made quite a nice little rider — a bit rough, like these Australians always were, but quite secure in her seat and going like the clappers.
2006, Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the DarkSynonyms: like the clappers of fuck, like the clappers of hell
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseVery hard or very rapidly.
Origin
Partridge says: "Possibly rhyming slang for 'clappers of a bell', 'hell'."
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan a tota llet
- a tota lletvery hard or rapidly
German in einem Affentempo, sehr schnell
- in einem Affentempovery hard or rapidly
- sehr schnellvery hard or rapidly
- wie die Feuerwehrvery hard or rapidly
Spanish a toda leche, escopetado
- a toda lechevery hard or rapidly
- escopetadovery hard or rapidly
Cite this entry
like the clappers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20the%20clappers
“like the clappers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20the%20clappers. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “like the clappers,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20the%20clappers.
Source: like the clappers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.