lāpsta

• (dialectal form) lāpusta

Derived from Latvian dialectal lāpa (“paw”) (q.v.) (cf. Lithuanian lópa, Russian лапа (lápa)) with a vowel and a suffix -stā (cf. dialectal variant lāpusta). Ultimately from the same stem as lapa (“leaf”) (q.v.). The original meaning of lāpsta was probably “paw, foot, sole,” from which “instrument for digging (like a paw, foot, sole)”. (Another possibility: from the original stem *lep- “to bark; to rip off, to tear” a noun could be formed with the meaning “(cut off) plate”; cf. Albanian latë “small ax, hoe, spud” < *laptā). Cognates include Lithuanian lópeta, Old Prussian lopto, Proto-Slavic *lopata (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian лопата (lopáta), Czech lopata, Polish łopata, Russian dialectal лапость (lápost’) “track, footprints”), Hittite lappa (“on shovels”).[1]

• IPA^(key): [lâːpsta]

lāpsta f (4th declension)

1. shovel, spade (a tool for digging with a metal blade and a long handle)

   koka, dzelzs lāpsta ― wooden, iron shovel

   asa lāpsta ― sharp shovel

   sniega, ogļu lāpsta ― snow, coal shovel

   dārza lāpsta ― garden spade

   iedurt lāpstu zemē ― to stick, push the shovel in(to) the ground

   Žuburs uzmina ar kāju lāpstas malai, nolieca lāpstas kātu kā sviru uz leju un atlauza kūdras gabalu ― Žuburs pushed the shovel edge with (his) foot, pulled the shovel handle down like a lever and broke off a piece of turf

2. spadeful, shovelful (the amount that can be moved with a spade, a shovel)

   ieslodītie izsvieda no kapa pēdējās sārto smilšu lāpstas ― the prisoners dug from the grave the last shovel(ful)s of reddish sand

   Vecais Černs kanāla dibenā neatlaidīgi rakās uz priekšu un lāpstu pēc lāpstas meta ārā zemi ― the old Černs dug forward (= a tunnel) at the bottom of the canal and threw out shovel(ful) after shovel(ful) of earth

3. blade (a part of certain machines that resembles the blade of a shovel)

   traktors ar lāpstu varēs netraucēti braukt pa mēslu eju visā kūts garumā ― a tractor with a blade will be able to run smoothly on a path of mature in the legnth of a whole barn

4. blade (the flat end of an oar or paddle)
5. a flat, wide, shovel-like horn structure (e.g., on an elk)

   šodien sastopam daudz buļļu, kuru ragi lāpstas nemaz neveido; šie aļņi ir tā sauktie apaļradži ― we find nowadays many (elk) bulls whose antlers do not form shovels at all; these elk are the so-called round-horns

• (of "horn structure"): lāpstiņa

• lāpstiņa