lap

• IPA^(key): /læp/

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• Rhymes: -æp

From Middle English lappe, from Old English læppa (“skirt or flap of a garment”), from Proto-Germanic *lappô (“cloth; rag”). Cognate with Dutch lap (“cloth; rag”), German Lappen (“cloth; lobe; flap”), Icelandic leppur (“rag; patch”).

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
4. (figuratively) a place of rearing and fostering
5. The upper legs of a seated person.

   The boy was sitting on his mother's lap.

6. (archaic, euphemistic) The female pudenda. [17th century]
7. (construction) A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component.

lap (third-person singular simple present laps, present participle lapping, simple past and past participle lapped)

1. (transitive) To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish.
   • Dryden

     Her garment spreads, and laps him in the folds.

2. (transitive) To rest or recline in a lap, or as in a lap.
   • Praed

     to lap his head on lady's breast

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). 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.

lap (third-person singular simple present laps, present participle lapping, simple past and past participle lapped)

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 up

   to lap a bandage around a finger

   • Isaac Newton

     About the paper […] I lapped several times a slender thread of very black silk.

3. (transitive) to envelop, enfold

   lapped 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.

   • Grew

     The 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 whole lap than the straggler.
9. To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.

• belap
• lapper
• umbelap

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.

   the lap of a board

3. 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.

4. 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).
5. (sports) One circuit around a race track, or one traversal down and then back the length of a pool

   to run twenty laps

   to win by three laps

   swim two laps

   • 2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport‎:

     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, etc. or in polishing cutlery, etc. It is usually in the form of a wheel or disk that revolves on a vertical axis.

• lap of honor/lap of honour

From Middle English lappen, from Old English lapian, from Proto-Germanic *lapōną, *lapjaną (“to lick; lap”), 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.

lap (third-person singular simple present laps, present participle lapping, simple past and past participle lapped)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To take (liquid) into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue.

   Don't lap your soup like that, you look like a dog.

   • Shakespeare

     They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.

   • Sir K. Digby

     The 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.
   • Tennyson

     I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.

lap (plural laps)

1. (medicine, colloquial) Clipping of laparoscopy.

lap (not comparable)

1. (medicine, colloquial) Clipping of laparoscopic.

• ALP, APL, LPA, PAL, PLA, Pal, Pla, alp, pal

• IPA^(key): /lɑp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lap
• Rhymes: -ɑp

From Middle Dutch lap, lappe, from Old Dutch lap. Cognate with German Lappen. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

lap m (plural lappen, diminutive lapje n)

1. a rag, a piece of cloth
2. a slice of meat

• baklap
• lapjeskat
• lapjespoes
• lappendeken
• lappenmand
• lappenpop
• poetslap
• schaamlap
• schoenlap

• (rag): vod

lap m (plural lappen, diminutive lapje n)

1. (obsolete, except in compounds) A bloke, dude, bum; especially a drunk or objectionable one.

• dronkenlap
• smeerlap
• zuiplap

lap

1. (chiefly Belgium) exclamation of dismay, disappointment

See the etymology of the main entry.

lap

1. first-person singular present indicative of lappen
2. imperative of lappen

• pal

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɒp]

• Audio

  (file)

lap (plural lapok)

1. sheet (piece of paper, usually rectangular, that has been prepared for writing, printing or other uses)
   • 1982, István Pintér, “A Veréb is akció”, in Somogyi Néplap‎, volume 38, number 285:

     Kitépett egy lapot a noteszából, néhány sort írt rá.

     He tore a sheet from his notebook and wrote a couple of lines on it.

2. (proscribed, archaic) page (one side of a written or printed paper sheet)
   • 1868, Balázs Orbán, “Sugópatak zuhatagjai”, in A Székelyföld leírása:

     Mellékelt képünk ezen zuhatagot tünteti elő. (Lásd a 74. lapon.)

     The attached illustration shows this waterfall. (See page 74.)

3. newspaper, magazine, periodical (publication issued regularly)
   • 1930, “Újdonságok”, in Pápai Hírlap‎, volume 27, number 45:

     Ezenkívül háziipari, iparművészeti, háztartási cikkeket olvasunk ebben az egyedülálló magyar női lapban.

     We can also read articles on homecrafts, applied arts and housekeeping in this unique Hungarian women's magazine.

4. greeting card, postcard (decorated card made of thick paper that is sent or given to someone)
   • 1994, Tivadar Petercsák, chapter I, in A képes levelezőlap története‎:

     A lapok címzési oldalának jobb felső sarkába nyomtatták a sárga színű bélyeget.

     The yellow stamp was printed in the top right corner of the address side of the cards.

5. playing card (one piece out of a pack of cards used to play games)
   • 1992, György Somlyó, “Azután”, in Holmi‎, volume 4, number 4:

     A pakliban egyetlen cinkelt lap sem található.

     There isn't a single marked card in the deck.

6. (graphical user interface) tab (virtual space of a window where one of many simultaneously opened documents is displayed)
   • 2011, Botond Kopacz, “1.4 Biztonsági funkciók”, in Internet Explorer 9 a zsebben‎:

     De mi a helyzet abban az esetben, ha egyszerre több megnyitott lappal dolgozunk, és az egyik lap lefagy?

     But what if we are working with several tabs open at once, and one of them crashes?

7. (geometry) face (any of the flat bounding surfaces of a polyhedron)
   • 1983, Euclid; Gyula Mayer (translator), “Tizenkettedik könyv”, in Elemek‎:

     Vegyünk egy hasábot, melynek alapja az ABC háromszög s szemközti lapja DEF.

     Consider a prism whose base is triangle ABC, and the opposite face is DEF.

8. (in the possessive) flat (flat side of something, as opposed to the edge)
   • 2013, “Csábító fogások vasban gazdag májjal”, in Heves Megyei Hírlap‎, volume 24, number 45:

     A fokhagymát megtisztítjuk, és a kés lapjával szétnyomjuk.

     Peel the garlic, and crush it with the flat of the knife.

• l. (abbreviation)
• lapka
• lapos

(Expressions):

• karácsonyi lap
• sárga lap