lap
1- the front part of the human body from the waist to the knees when in a sitting position.
- the part of the clothing that lies on the front portion of the body from the waist to the knees when one sits.
- a place, environment, or situation of rest or nurture: the lap of luxury.
- area of responsibility, care, charge, or control: They dropped the problem right in his lap.
- a hollow place, as a hollow among hills.
- the front part of a skirt, especially as held up to contain something.
- a part of a garment that extends over another: the lap of a coat.
- a loose border or fold.
Origin of lap
1lap
2- to fold over or around something; wrap or wind around something: to lap a bandage around one's finger.
- to enwrap in something; wrap up; clothe.
- to envelop or enfold: lapped in luxury.
- to lay (something) partly over something underneath; lay (things) together, one partly over another; overlap.
- to lie partly over (something underneath).
- to get a lap or more ahead of (a competitor) in racing, as on an oval track.
- to cut or polish with a lap.
- to join, as by scarfing, to form a single piece with the same dimensions throughout.
- to change (cotton, wool, etc.) into a compressed layer or sheet.
- to fold or wind around something.
- to lie partly over or alongside of something else.
- to lie upon and extend beyond a thing; overlap.
- to extend beyond a limit.
- the act of lapping.
- the amount of material required to go around a thing once.
- a complete circuit of a course in racing or in walking for exercise: to run a lap.
- an overlapping part.
- the extent or amount of overlapping.
- a rotating wheel or disk holding an abrasive or polishing powder on its surface, used for gems, cutlery, etc.
- a compressed layer or sheet of cotton, wool, or other fibrous material usually wound on an iron rod or rolled into a cylindrical form for further processing during carding.
Origin of lap
2lap
3- (of water) to wash against or beat upon (something) with a light, slapping or splashing sound: Waves lapped the shoreline.
- to take in (liquid) with the tongue; lick in: to lap water from a bowl.
- to wash or move in small waves with a light, slapping or splashing sound: The water lapped gently against the mooring.
- to take up liquid with the tongue; lick up a liquid.
- the act of lapping liquid.
- the lapping of water against something.
- the sound of this: the quiet lap of the sea on the rocks.
- something lapped up, as liquid food for dogs.
- lap up,
- Informal.to receive enthusiastically: The audience lapped up his monologue.
- to take in (all of a liquid) with the tongue; drink up: The cat lapped up her milk and looked for more.
Origin of lap
3lap
4- simple past tense of leap.
Related Words for lap
course, round, distance, splash, lick, circle, tour, loop, bathe, swish, lave, drink, burble, slap, sip, lip, sup, ripple, bubble, gurgleExamples from the Web for lap
Contemporary Examples of lap
A. I struck him in the back of the head while he was in my lap fighting to break free.
Tihen had insisted he was in her lap as she struggled to handcuff him.
If you saw it in front of you, your pencil would drop, your tablet would fall from your lap.
How Mork Melted the Fonz: Henry Winkler Recalls Robin Williams’s Storming ‘Happy Days’ DebutTim Teeman
August 12, 2014
Customers rave “Fun place to go, especially with the $5 lap dance lunch special.”
Creativity is not something that falls into your lap in full bloom.
Vampires without Glitter or Girl Problems: Inside Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Strain’Andrew Romano
July 14, 2014
Historical Examples of lap
Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
Hester threw herself on her knees, and buried her face in her mother's lap.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
In Sidney's lap lay a small pasteboard box, punched with many holes.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Harriet sat with her hands in her lap and listened while Tillie poured out her story.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
His maiden looked up from her mother's lap where she wept for him, and fled shrieking.
The Trail BookMary Austin
lap
1- one circuit of a racecourse or track
- a stage or part of a journey, race, etc
- an overlapping part or projection
- the extent of overlap
- the length of material needed to go around an object
- a rotating disc coated with fine abrasive for polishing gemstones
- any device for holding a fine abrasive to polish materials
- metallurgy a defect in rolled metals caused by the folding of a fin onto the surface
- a sheet or band of fibres, such as cotton, prepared for further processing
- (tr) to wrap or fold (around or over)he lapped a bandage around his wrist
- (tr) to enclose or envelop inhe lapped his wrist in a bandage
- to place or lie partly or completely over or project beyond
- (tr; usually passive) to envelop or surround with comfort, love, etclapped in luxury
- (intr) to be folded
- (tr) to overtake (an opponent) in a race so as to be one or more circuits ahead
- (tr) to polish or cut (a workpiece, gemstone, etc) with a fine abrasive, esp to hone (mating metal parts) against each other with an abrasive
- to form (fibres) into a sheet or band
Word Origin for lap
lap
2- (of small waves) to wash against (a shore, boat, etc), usually with light splashing sounds
- (often foll by up) (esp of animals) to scoop (a liquid) into the mouth with the tongue
- the act or sound of lapping
- a thin food for dogs or other animals
Word Origin for lap
lap
3- the area formed by the upper surface of the thighs of a seated person
- Also called: lapful the amount held in one's lap
- a protected place or environmentin the lap of luxury
- any of various hollow or depressed areas, such as a hollow in the land
- the part of one's clothing that covers the lap
- drop in someone's lap give someone the responsibility of
- in the lap of the gods beyond human control and power
Word Origin for lap
Word Origin and History for lap
Old English læppa (plural læppan) "skirt or flap of a garment," from Proto-Germanic *lapp- (cf. Old Frisian lappa, Old Saxon lappo, Middle Dutch lappe, Dutch lap, Old High German lappa, German Lappen "rag, shred," Old Norse leppr "patch, rag"), from PIE root *leb- "be loose, hang down."
Sense of "lower part of a shirt" led to that of "upper legs of seated person" (c.1300). Used figuratively ("bosom, breast") from late 14c.; e.g. lap of luxury, first recorded 1802. From 15c.-In 17c. the word (often in plural) was a euphemism for "female pudendum," but this is not the source of lap dance, which is first recorded 1993.
To lap dance, you undress, sit your client down, order him to stay still and fully clothed, then hover over him, making a motion that you have perfected by watching Mister Softee ice cream dispensers. [Anthony Lane, review of "Showgirls," "New Yorker," Oct. 16, 1995]
That this is pleasure and not torment for the client is something survivors of the late 20c. will have to explain to their youngers.
"take up liquid with the tongue," from Old English lapian "to lap up, drink," from Proto-Germanic *lapajanan (cf. Old High German laffen "to lick," Old Saxon lepil, Dutch lepel, German Löffel "spoon"), from PIE imitative base *lab- (cf. Greek laptein "to sip, lick," Latin lambere "to lick"), indicative of licking, lapping, smacking lips. Meaning "splash gently" first recorded 1823, based on similarity of sound. Related: Lapped; lapping.
"to lay one part over another," early 14c., "to surround (something with something else)," from lap (n.). Figurative use, "to envelop (in love, sin, desire, etc.)" is from mid-14c. The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun in this sense is 1670s, originally "something coiled or wrapped up;" meaning "a turn around a track" (1861) also is from this sense. Related: Lapped; lapping; laps.
Idioms and Phrases with lap
lap
In addition to the idioms beginning with lap
- lap of luxury, in the
- lap of the gods, in the
- lap up
also see:
- drop in someone's lap