yap

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points: 8
Words With Friends: 8
Letters: 3

Pronunciation

/jæp/

Definition of yap

11 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

(countable)The high-pitched bark of a small dog, or similar.

See all 11 definitions

noun

(countable)The high-pitched bark of a small dog, or similar.
(slang, uncountable)Casual talk; chatter.

“Had I taken his accusations seriously I might have recommended a change in my under-managership, but I never could translate our jammy products into gas or explosives or even poison. Still yap, at least as concerned Beldite's.”
“They couldn’t rise above their calls for peace. Those who weren’t “defenders of the fatherland” were incapable of anything except yap and blather about “stopping the war.””
(countable, derogatory, slang)The mouth, which produces speech.

“Shut your yap!”
(Geordie, countable)A badly behaved person, especially a child.
(countable, dated, slang, uncountable)A fool.

verb

(intransitive)Of a small dog, to bark.
(intransitive, slang)To talk, especially excessively; to chatter.

“You’re always yapping, I wish you’d shut up.”
(slang, transitive)To rob or steal from (someone).

“Ante up! Yap that fool!”

name

An island of the Caroline Islands, western Micronesia.
One of the four states that composes the Federated States of Micronesia.
A Chinese surname from Hokkien or Hakka.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Probably of imitative origin. Alternatively, from dialectal yap, yaup, yalp (“to yap, yelp”), from Middle English ȝælpen, variant of yelpen (“to yelp”). More at yelp.