Dictionaries:
dose of the clap:
Or: dose-of-clap / dose of the claps / old-dose , a gonorrhoeic infection. Not to be confused with clapped out , an expression of the 1960-70s meaning worn out , exhausted. See gonorrhea for synonyms.Etymology: From the 16 th century French word clapoir , a swelling in the groin symptomatic of gonorrhea .
Quotes:
(1) Captain Francis Grose defines clap in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811): ' A venereal taint . He went out by Had'em, and came round by Clapham home ; i.e. he went out a wenching, and got the clap .'
(2) Oscar Wilde (Terry Gilliam) and Jim (John Cleese) entertaining A Royal in Oscar Wilde, Too (1973), a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch.
-- Oscar: ' Your Majesty is like a dose of the clap .'
-- Jim: ' Before you arrive is pleasure, after you leave is a pain in the dark .'
(3) R. Reisner & L. Wechsler. Encyclopedia of Graffiti (1974): ' V.D. is nothing to clap about .'
See Also: clap eyes on, clap one's eyes on, clap, the, clap-shouldered, clapped-up, dose, dose of clap, dose of the clap, drip, dripper, dripsy, gonorrhea, hat and cap, lay eyes on, lay one's eyes on, old dose, set eyes on, tear in the eye, tear in the lily
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