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Lap

//læp// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Clipping of laparoscopic. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial, not-comparable
Noun
  1. 1
    The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
  2. 2
    The act or process of lapping.
  3. 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. 4
    Clipping of laparoscopy. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
  5. 5
    Initialism of load, assemble, pack (“munitions operations”). abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
Show 22 more definitions
  1. 6
    touching with the tongue wordnet
  2. 7
    An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
  3. 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"

  4. 9
    Liquor; alcoholic drink. obsolete, slang, uncountable
  5. 10
    Clipping of laparotomy abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
  6. 11
    movement once around a course wordnet
  7. 12
    The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered.
  8. 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."

  9. 14
    a flap that lies over another part wordnet
  10. 15
    A place of rearing and fostering. figuratively
  11. 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).
  12. 17
    the part of a piece of clothing that covers the thighs wordnet
  13. 18
    The upper legs of a seated person.

    "The boy was sitting on his mother's lap."

  14. 19
    One circuit around a race track.

    "to run twenty laps"

  15. 20
    the upper side of the thighs of a seated person wordnet
  16. 21
    The female pudenda. archaic, euphemistic
  17. 22
    The traversal of one length of the pool, or (less commonly) one length and back again.

    "to swim two laps"

  18. 23
    an area of control or responsibility wordnet
  19. 24
    A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component.
  20. 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.
  21. 26
    A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
  22. 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. 1
    To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish. transitive

    "Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold."

  2. 2
    To fold; to bend and lay over or on something. transitive

    "to lap a piece of cloth"

  3. 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. 4
    wash or flow against wordnet
  5. 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
  1. 6
    to wrap around, enwrap, wrap up transitive

    "to lap a bandage around a finger"

  2. 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."

  3. 8
    take up with the tongue wordnet
  4. 9
    to envelop, enfold transitive

    "lapped in luxury"

  5. 10
    pass the tongue over wordnet
  6. 11
    to wind around intransitive
  7. 12
    move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound wordnet
  8. 13
    To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another. transitive

    "One laps roof tiles so that water can run off."

  9. 14
    lie partly over or alongside of something or of one another wordnet
  10. 15
    To polish (a surface, especially metal or gemstone) with very fine abrasive to achieve smoothness and small dimensional changes. transitive
  11. 16
    To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap. intransitive

    "The cloth laps back."

  12. 17
    To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler. transitive
  13. 18
    To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.

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 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 3

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 4

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 5

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.

Etymology 6

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.

See also for "lap"

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