clap on

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

clap on (third-person singular simple present claps on, present participle clapping on, simple past and past participle clapped on)

1. (nautical, transitive) To temporarily add something to an existing part, especially to add an additional sail to take advantage of a fair wind.
   • 1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC:

     We spring out of our berths, clap on a monkey-jacket and south-wester, and tumble up the ladder.

2. (transitive) To encourage by (or as if by) applauding.
3. (UK, colloquial) To talk at tedious length; to whinge.
   • 2020, Dorothy Cannell, Murder at Mullings

     […] clapping on about having to live on a small income because of her son's lack of ambition.

4. (dated, slang, US) To decide to make a concerted effort to do something; to operate with dedication and vigor. [19th c.]

• Coplan