Etymologically
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applause

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈplɔːz/[1]
  • US: /əˈplɔz/, /əˈplɑz/[1]

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
  • 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