slap

=Word: slap= Context sentence: He slapped Joe Ryan on the back. Resource: Reader's Digest Definition: **slap somebody on the back** to hit someone on the back in a friendly way, often as a way of praising them

Dictionary: Longman Dictionary of English CD ROM

Easy to remember: The same meaning of beat or hit

Here are some more sentences showing that 'slap on the back' is a friendly gesture. Notice that it is sometimes metaphorical as in the last example which is discussing handing independence to former colonies of Britain.

The BMC deserves **a hearty** **slap on the back** for the organisation of this year's festival and the quality of the speakers.

There is nothing new about a false smile, **a slap on the back**, the friendly use of a Christian name or artificial flattery.

This applied in particular to the Prior, Father Stephen Bedale, a man of huge stature and extrovert character, and the kind of man who, had he been a layman, might have given the poet **a hearty slap on the back** in the belief that this would make him feel at home.

We can only pass an Act of Parliament and give it to them with **a slap on the back** and a `best of British luck': `Here's your constitution,' we say, `now do what you like with it; you can because you are now independent.'