applause

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin applausus,^[2][3][4] which in classical Latin was the verbal noun of applaudō (“to clap the hands in approval; to strike upon”)^[5][6][7] and also meant a clashing noise.^[3] The verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and plaudō (“to clap”).^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Commendation, praise: about 1425 according to Barnhart, and early 15th century according to Etymonline,^[8][6] while the OED, whose entry has not been revised, has no example before 1600, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.^[5]

Semantic evolution

As with the verb applaud, the general idea of approval came into English before the literal sense of clapping the hands.^[6] By 1600 the noun meant approval expressed loudly as well as approval and praise in general.^[5] Two 17th-century uses died out: formal public assent (1612), and the object of applause, as when Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the "applause" of the stage (1623).^[5] English also briefly had a verb applause (1596–1654) and an adjective applausible, worthy of applause.^[5][6] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as approbation loudly expressed, or praise.^[9] In US Black slang of the 1990s, applause was a punning name for gonorrhoea, after the clap.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – praise, commendation.^[8]
• 1596 – the verb applause, to applaud (obsolete by 1654).^[5]
• 1600 – approval loudly expressed, in Shakespeare.^[5]
• 1623 – the object of applause, in Ben Jonson's verses on Shakespeare.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson: approbation loudly expressed; praise.^[9]
• 1994 – slang: gonorrhoea.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Approval shown by clapping the hands.
2. Praise or approval in general.
3. (US slang) Gonorrhoea.

Word family

• self-applause

Related words

• applaud
• plaudit
• plausible

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com