castanets
Spanish percussion instrument made of two hollowed wooden shells, originally chestnut wood (Spanish castaña). They are held in the palm and drummed together by the fingers to produce a rhythmic accompaniment to dance.
Orchestral castanets or ‘clappers’, mounted on a handle, were employed by silent-film effects musicians to imitate the sound of a galloping horse, hence the phrase ‘to run like the clappers’.
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