• Lap

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /læp/
    • Rhymes: -æp

    Origin 1

    Old English læppa (skirt or flap of a garment), from Proto-Germanic *lapp-, confer Middle Dutch lappe, Old High German lappa, German Lappen, Old Norse leppr ("lock of hair").

    Full definition of lap

    Noun

    lap

    (plural laps)
    1. The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
    2. An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
    3. The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered; figuratively, a place of rearing and fostering; as, to be reared in the lap of luxury.
    4. The upper legs of a seated person.The boy was sitting on his mother's lap
    5. (archaic, euphemistic) The female pudenda. 17th century
    6. (construction) component that overlaps or covers any portion of the same or adjacent component.

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish.
      • DrydenHer garment spreads, and laps him in the folds.
    2. To rest or recline in a lap, or as in a lap.
      • Praedto lap his head on lady's breast

    Origin 2

    From Middle English lappen ("to fold, wrap") from earlier Middle English wlappen ("to fold, wrap"), from Old English *wlappan, *wlæppan, *wlappian ("to wrap"). from Proto-Germanic *wlapp-, *wrapp- ("to wrap, fold, roll up, turn"), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- ("to bend, turn"). Cognate with Middle Dutch lappen ("to wrap up, embrace"), Danish dial. vravle "to wind", Old Italian goluppare "to wrap, fold up" (from ). More at envelop, develop

    The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun meaning "a turn around a track" (1861) is from this sense.

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To fold; to bend and lay over or on something.to lap a piece of cloth
    2. (transitive) to wrap around, enwrap, wrap upto lap a bandage around a finger
      • Isaac NewtonAbout the paper ... I lapped several times a slender thread of very black silk.
    3. (transitive) to envelop, enfoldlapped in luxury
    4. (intransitive) to wind around
    5. (transitive) To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another.One laps roof tiles so that water can run off.
    6. (transitive) To polish, e.g., a surface, until smooth.
    7. (intransitive) To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap.The cloth laps back; the boats lap; the edges lap.
      • GrewThe upper wings are opacous; at their hinder ends, where they lap over, transparent, like the wing of a fly.
    8. (transitive) To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more lap than them.
    9. To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.

    Derived terms

    Noun

    lap

    (plural laps)
    1. The act or process of lapping.
    2. That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another; as, the lap of a board; also, the measure of such extension over or upon another thing.
    3. The amount by which a slide valve at its half stroke overlaps a port in the seat, being equal to the distance the valve must move from its mid stroke position in order to begin to open the port. Used alone, lap refers to outside lap. See Outside lap (below).
    4. The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping; as, the second boat got a lap of half its length on the leader.
    5. (sports) One circuit around a race track, or one traversal down and then back the length of a pool; as, to run twenty laps; to win by three laps, to swim two laps.
      • 2012, May 13, Andrew Benson, Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win, Alonso's second place moves him into a tie on points at the head of the championship with Sebastian Vettel, who was sixth in his Red Bull, passing Button, then Hamilton and finally Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in quick succession in the closing laps.
    6. In card playing and other games, the points won in excess of the number necessary to complete a game; — so called when they are counted in the score of the following game.
    7. A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
    8. A piece of brass, lead, or other soft metal, used to hold a cutting or polishing powder in cutting glass, gems, and the like, or in polishing cutlery, etc. It is usually in the form of wheel or disk, which revolves on a vertical axis.

    Derived terms

    Origin 3

    From Old English lapian, from Proto-Germanic *lapajanan, akin to Old High German laffen (to lick), Old Norse lepja, Danish labe, Old Saxon lepil, German Löffel (spoon). Cognate with Latin lambere ("lick"). French lamper is a loanword from German. Compare Danish leffe, dialect German läffeln.

    Verb

    1. (ambitransitive) To take (liquid) into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue.
      • ShakespeareThey'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.
      • Sir K. DigbyThe dogs by the River Nilus's side, being thirsty, lap hastily as they run along the shore.
    2. (intransitive, of water) To wash against a surface with a splashing sound; to swash.
      • TennysonI heard the ripple washing in the reeds,
        And the wild water lapping on the crag.

    Derived terms

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