to break or split something open; or, to hatch chicks (see Karttunen)
IPAspelling:
tɬɑpɑːnɑ
Alonso de Molina:
tlapana. nitla. (pret. onitlatlapan.) quebrar algo, sacar pollos las aues, o descaxacarar mazorcas de cacao, o de cosa semejante. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 131r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.
Frances Karttunen:
TLAPĀN(A) vt to break or split something open, to break something open, to hatch chicks / quebrar algo, sacar pollos las aves, o descascarar mazorcas de cacao o de cosa semejante (M) See TLAPĀN(I).
TLAPĀNILIĀ applic. TLAPĀN(A).
TLAPĀNALTIĀ caus. TLAPĀN(A). Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 289.