clapboard
noun
ˈkla(p)-ˌbȯrd
: a pair of hinged boards one of which has a slate with data identifying a piece of film and which are banged together in front of a motion-picture camera at the start of a take to facilitate editing
called also clapper board
Examples of clapboard in a Sentence
John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2023
Though smaller than most at 30 acres, Frost’s farm was typical of New England at the time, having a clapboard house, shed, barn and garden near the road, and fields, pastures, an orchard and a woodlot, all graced by low stone walls.
—Robert Thorson, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
The future of driverless cars in America is a promotional booth with a surfboard and a movie director’s clapboard.
—Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2023
The home’s windows have black frames, and the Hardie plank siding is board and batten on the lower half and clapboard on the upper.
—BostonGlobe.com, 20 Dec. 2022
Gradually, a classic tableau came into view: a tapering stone tower, a white clapboard keeper’s house with green trim, a small boathouse.
—Dorothy Wickenden, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023
The cities of Seaside and Marina, Calif., where Fort Ord had been critical to the local economy, were left with a ghost town of clapboard barracks and decrepit, World War II-era concrete structures that neither of the cities could afford to tear down.
—Ralph Vartabedian, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2023
In the first photo, Mendes is flashing double peace signs at the camera while posing on the front lawn of a yellow clapboard house with a giant tree behind her.
—Nikki Dobrin, Peoplemag, 8 Aug. 2023
There were really two moments of real cinema with lots of machinists, clapboards, microphone operators, producers, directors and an extraordinary international star like Marisa Berenson who lent herself to this game.
—Pino Gagliardi, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Sep. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clapboard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
partial translation of Dutch klaphout stave wood
circa 1520, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Clapboard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clapboard. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.
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Kids Definition
clapboard
noun
ˈkla(p)-ˌbō(ə)rd
More from Merriam-Webster on clapboard
Nglish: Translation of clapboard for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about clapboard
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