applause English · revision 39382

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1425|origins=la plaudō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /əˈplɔːz/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /əˈplɔz/, /əˈplɑz/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|applausus]],^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)^(ODE 2010) which in classical Latin was the verbal noun of [[m|la|applaudō|t=to clap the hands in approval; to strike upon]]^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) and also meant a clashing noise.^(MWU 2024) The verb is formed from [[m|la|ad-|t=to]] and [[m|la|plaudō|t=to clap]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Commendation, praise: about 1425 according to Barnhart, and early 15th century according to Etymonline,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) while the OED, whose entry has not been revised, has no example before 1600, in Shakespeare's ''Merchant of Venice''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As with the verb ''applaud'', the general idea of approval came into English before the literal sense of clapping the hands.^(Etymonline) By 1600 the noun meant approval expressed loudly as well as approval and praise in general.^(OED 2026) 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).^(OED 2026) English also briefly had a verb ''applause'' (1596–1654) and an adjective ''applausible'', worthy of applause.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Johnson (1755) defined the noun as approbation loudly expressed, or praise.^(Johnson 1755) In US Black slang of the 1990s, ''applause'' was a punning name for gonorrhoea, after ''the clap''.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1425 – praise, commendation.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1596 – the verb ''applause'', to applaud (obsolete by 1654).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1600 – approval loudly expressed, in Shakespeare.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1623 – the object of applause, in Ben Jonson's verses on Shakespeare.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – Johnson: approbation loudly expressed; praise.^(Johnson 1755)

+ * 1994 – slang: gonorrhoea.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Approval shown by [[clap|alt=clapping]] the hands.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Praise or approval in general.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(US slang)'' [[gonorrhoea|alt=Gonorrhoea]].^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[self-applause]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[applaud]]

+ * [[plaudit]]

+ * [[plausible]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}