clapper vs fan

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. 

fan

noun
  • An electrical or mechanical device for moving air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc. 

  • A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of a smock mill always in the direction of the wind. 

  • Anything resembling a hand-held fan in shape, e.g., a peacock’s tail. 

  • A person who is fond of something or someone, especially an admirer of a performer or aficionado of a sport. 

  • An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away. 

  • The action of fanning; agitation of the air. 

  • A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself. 

  • A section of a tree having a finite number of branches 

verb
  • To dispel by waving a hand-held fan. 

  • To strike out. 

  • To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan. 

  • To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun. 

  • To slap (a behind, especially). 

  • To invigorate, like flames when fanned. 

  • To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise. 

  • To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession. 

  • To strike out (a batter). 

  • To winnow grain. 

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