Claque et Claqueur

'Claque' means "a group hired to applaud at a performance."

Claque means “a group hired to applaud at a performance” or “a group of sycophants.” A member of a claque can be called a claqueur. People have been paid to show enthusiasm at performances since ancient times, and the practice went from Greece and Rome to France in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Claque is the French word for “slap” or “smack.” It came to English in the mid-1800s:

A National Guard said he recollected having seen the man, and even speaking to him, at the Opera on Friday night last. The National Guard describes him as belonging to the claque, or hired applauders of the theatre.
—The Scotsman, 4 Jan. 1837