Definition of "afterclap" in Anglais

noun

1. (archaic) An additional adverse event that occurs unexpectedly after an earlier one was thought to be over and done with.

2. (archaic) An unfavourable turn of events following a favourable situation; an eventuality for which one ought to be prepared.

   • 1770, Thomas Bridges, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, London: S. Hooper, 3rd ed., Volume I, p. 7, May you all live to see Troy out, And when you’ve storm’d the Trojan gaps, May you escape all after-claps.

3. The consequence (often, but not always, adverse) of an action or event.

   • 1753, uncredited translator, The School of Man, London: Lockyer Davis, 2nd ed., pp. 102-103, […] he loves Pleasure; but then, without any Afterclap; fain would he be gathering Roses, but he’s afraid of the Prickles.
   • 1891, Grover Cleveland, letter to William Freeman Vilas in Allan Nevins (ed.), Letters of Grover Cleveland, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933, p. 244, My notion is that the Senatorial result in this State is the best that could have been attained. I am not sure about the after-clap, but I think quieter politics in this State will result.
   • 1926, Alice Dunbar Nelson, diary entry, in Gloria T. Hull (ed.), Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, New York: Norton, 1984, p. 196, Seems like no matter where I go, if I have a pleasant time, there is always a nasty afterclap of bad checks following me.

4. A phenomenon occurring after a similar earlier one; a later manifestation of something.

   • 1891, Elizabeth Gilbert Martin (translator), Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Arthur-Léon Imbert de Saint-Amand, New York: Scribner, 1891, Chapter 4, p. 32, The drama of the Revolution is not French alone; it is European. It has its afterclap in every empire, in every kingdom, even to the most distant lands.

5. A sound that follows another, especially a loud noise, such as thunder.

6. A symptom of an illness, especially one that appears after the initial onset; an illness or symptom caused by exposure to a substance, an injury, etc.

7. (uncountable, medicine, obsolete) Urethral discharge as a symptom of gonorrhea.

   • 1877, William Morgan, Contagious Diseases, London: The Homœopathic Publishing Company, Part 1, p. 35, […] the fourth stage of the complaint, known as a “gleet,” or afterclap.

8. (obsolete) A change or attempted change to an agreement after it has been entered into; an additional charge (especially one over and above the previously agreed-upon price).

   • 1780, William Cowper, letter to William Unwin in William Hayley (ed.), The Life and Letters of William Cowper, London: J. Johnson, 1812, p. 293, I shall charge you a halfpenny apiece for every copy I send you, the short as well as the long. This is a sort of afterclap you little expected, but I cannot possibly afford them at a cheaper rate.