What does "lap" mean?
The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
Lap
/læp/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
- Grammar: lap is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: circuit, overlap, adjoin, air race.
- Useful contrasts: align, back, calm water.
- Usage evidence: Ben acted out the scene of the waitress spilling soup in his lap.
How to use "lap"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lap" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lap" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lap" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lap" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lap" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "circuit" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lap", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
- 2 The act or process of lapping.
- 3 The taking of liquid into the mouth with the tongue. countable, uncountable
"With each lap of its tongue a cat gathers up milk and throws it well back into the gateway of its throat […]"
- 4 Clipping of laparoscopy. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
- 5 Initialism of load, assemble, pack (“munitions operations”). abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 touching with the tongue wordnet
- 7 An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
- 8 That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another.
"the lap of a board"
- 9 Liquor; alcoholic drink. obsolete, slang, uncountable
- 10 Clipping of laparotomy abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
- 11 movement once around a course wordnet
- 12 The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered.
- 13 The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping.
"The second boat got a lap of half its length on the leader."
- 14 a flap that lies over another part wordnet
- 15 A place of rearing and fostering. figuratively
- 16 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 below).
- 17 the part of a piece of clothing that covers the thighs wordnet
- 18 The upper legs of a seated person.
"The boy was sitting on his mother's lap."
- 19 One circuit around a race track.
"to run twenty laps"
- 20 the upper side of the thighs of a seated person wordnet
- 21 The female pudenda. archaic, euphemistic
- 22 The traversal of one length of the pool, or (less commonly) one length and back again.
"to swim two laps"
- 23 an area of control or responsibility wordnet
- 24 A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component.
- 25 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.
- 26 A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
- 27 A piece of brass, lead, or other soft metal, used to hold a cutting or polishing powder in cutting glass, gems, etc. or in polishing cutlery or in toolmaking. It is usually in the form of a wheel or disk that revolves on a vertical axis.
Verb
- 1 To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish. transitive
"Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold."
- 2 To fold; to bend and lay over or on something. transitive
"to lap a piece of cloth"
- 3 To take (liquid) into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue. ambitransitive
"Don’t lap your soup like that! You look like a dog."
- 4 wash or flow against wordnet
- 5 To rest or recline in someone's lap, or as in a lap. transitive
"to lap his head on lady's breast"
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 to wrap around, enwrap, wrap up transitive
"to lap a bandage around a finger"
- 7 To wash against a surface with a splashing sound; to swash. intransitive
"I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag."
- 8 take up with the tongue wordnet
- 9 to envelop, enfold transitive
"lapped in luxury"
- 10 pass the tongue over wordnet
- 11 to wind around intransitive
- 12 move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound wordnet
- 13 To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another. transitive
"One laps roof tiles so that water can run off."
- 14 lie partly over or alongside of something or of one another wordnet
- 15 To polish (a surface, especially metal or gemstone) with very fine abrasive to achieve smoothness and small dimensional changes. transitive
- 16 To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap. intransitive
"The cloth laps back."
- 17 To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler. transitive
- 18 To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.
Adjective
- 1 Clipping of laparoscopic. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial, not-comparable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Ben acted out the scene of the waitress spilling soup in his lap."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lap"?
Common synonyms include: circuit, overlap, adjoin, air race, ambit, anteriority.
How do you use "lap" in a sentence?
Ben acted out the scene of the waitress spilling soup in his lap.
How do you pronounce "lap"?
Pronounced /læp/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English lappe, from Old English læppa (“skirt or flap of a garment”), from Proto-Germanic *lappô (“cloth; rag”), of uncertain origin, possibly Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”). Cognate with Dutch lap (“cloth; rag”), German Lappen (“cloth; lobe; flap”), Icelandic leppur (“rag; patch”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English lappen (“to fold, wrap”) from earlier 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”), dialectal Danish vravle (“to wind”), Old Italian goluppare (“to wrap, fold up”) (from Germanic). Doublet of wrap. Also related to 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.
Etymology 3
From Middle English lappen, from Old English lapian, from Proto-Germanic *lapōną, *lapjaną (“to lick; lap”), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *leh₂b- (“to lap, lick”); 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.