[app. a. Du. klapmuts sailor’s cap: so called from the cartilaginous hood mentioned in quot. 1743.] A kind of seal: see quots.
1743. Phil. Trans., XLII. 612. (Greenland) Several Sizes of Seals, but of the same Shape, except the Klap-myss, which has a cartilaginous Hood, which covers his Eyes.
1775. Clayton, ibid. LXVI. 102. The clapmatch seal and the fur seal are … distinct animals … the clapmatch is best pictured in Lord Anson’s voyage, under the name of sea-lyon.
1837. C. M. Goodridge, Voy. S. Seas & Shipwr. (1843), 51. The dog seals are named by Southsea-men Wigs, and the female seals are called Clap-matches.
