noun
- Now Rare the loose lower part of a garment, which may be doubled or folded over; skirt of a coat or gown
- the front part of the skirt when it is held up to form a hollow place in which things can be carried
- the front part from the waist to the knees of a person in a sitting position
- the part of the clothing covering this
- anything hollow like a lap, as a valley
- that in which a person or thing rests or is cared for, sheltered, or coddled
- a part extending over another part; overlapping part
- such extension; overlapping
- amount or place of this
- a turn or loop, as of a rope around a post
- a rotating disk for cutting and polishing glass, gems, etc.
- one complete circuit around a racetrack, in a race consisting of more than one
- one part or stage of an extended project
- the act or condition of lapping
Origin:
ME lappe < OE læppa, fold or hanging part of a garment, skin; akin to Ger lappen < IE base *leb-, lāb-, to hang down > L labare, to totter, labi, to fall, sink, lapsus, a fall
transitive verb lapped, lapping
- to fold (over or on)
- to wrap; enfold
- to hold in or as in the lap; envelop: lapped in luxury
- to place partly upon something else: to lap one board over another
- to lie partly upon; overlap: one board laps the other
- to cut or polish (glass, gems, etc.) with a lap
- to get a lap ahead of (an opponent) in a race
Origin:
ME lappen < the n.