backslap

See also: back slap

English

Etymology

back +‎ slap

Verb

backslap (third-person singular simple present backslaps, present participle backslapping, simple past and past participle backslapped)

1. To enthusiastically affirm or congratulate a person, especially by patting them on the back.
   • 1983 August 13, John Kyper, “Flamboyant Inquisitor”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 5, page 14:

     In public he put on a performance that was at once outraged and outrageous, but usually he did not carry grudges into his private life. Exuding the backslapping air of a socializer who loved to gamble and drink, he could not understand why people whose careers he had ruined and publicly ridiculed would be hostile to his friendly advances.

Derived terms

• backslapper
• backslapping

Anagrams

• slap-back, slapback