alarm vs clapper

alarm

noun
  • A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention. 

  • An instance of an alarm ringing, beeping or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time. 

  • A sudden attack; disturbance. 

  • Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger. 

  • A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy. 

  • Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise. 

verb
  • To give (someone) notice of approaching danger 

  • To rouse to vigilance and action; to put on the alert. 

  • To surprise with apprehension of danger; to fill with anxiety in regard to threatening evil; to excite with sudden fear. 

  • To call to arms for defense 

  • To keep in excitement; to disturb. 

clapper

noun
  • A wooden mechanical device used as a scarecrow; bird-scaring rattle, a wind-rattle or a wind-clapper. 

  • A clapstick (musical instrument). 

  • A pounding block. 

  • The chattering damsel of a mill. 

  • An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clanger or tongue. 

  • The hinged part of a clapperboard, used to synchronise images and soundtrack, or the clapperboard itself. 

  • A slapshot 

  • One who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands. 

verb
  • To make a repetitive clapping sound; to clatter. 

  • Of birds, to repeatedly strike the mandibles together. 

  • To ring a bell by pulling a rope attached to the clapper. 

How often have the words alarm and clapper occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )