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Lap   /læp/   Listen
noun
Lap  n.  
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. "If he cuts off but a lap of truth's garment, his heart smites him."
3.
The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered; figuratively, a place of rearing and fostering; as, to be reared in the lap of luxury. "Men expect that happiness should drop into their laps."
4.
That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another; as, the lap of a board; also, the measure of such extension over or upon another thing. Note: The lap of shingles or slates in roofing is the distance one course extends over the second course below, the distance over the course immediately below being called the cover.
5.
(Steam Engine) 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 Outside lap (below).
6.
The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping; as, the second boat got a lap of half its length on the leader.
7.
One circuit around a race track, esp. when the distance is a small fraction of a mile; as, to run twenty laps; to win by three laps. See Lap, to fold, 2.
8.
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.
9.
(Cotton Manuf.) A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
10.
(Mach.) A piece of brass, lead, or other soft metal, used to hold a cutting or polishing powder in cutting glass, gems, and the like, or in polishing cutlery, etc. It is usually in the form of wheel or disk, which revolves on a vertical axis.
Lap joint, a joint made by one layer, part, or piece, overlapping another, as in the scarfing of timbers.
Lap weld, a lap joint made by welding together overlapping edges or ends.
Inside lap (Steam Engine), lap of the valve with respect to the exhaust port.
Outside lap, lap with respect to the admission, or steam, port.


Lap  n.  
1.
The act of lapping with, or as with, the tongue; as, to take anything into the mouth with a lap.
2.
The sound of lapping.


verb
Lap  v. t.  (past & past part. lapped; pres. part. lapping)  
1.
To rest or recline in a lap, or as in a lap. "To lap his head on lady's breast."
2.
To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc. See 1st Lap, 10.


Lap  v. t.  
1.
To fold; to bend and lay over or on something; as, to lap a piece of cloth.
2.
To wrap or wind around something. "About the paper... I lapped several times a slender thread of very black silk."
3.
To infold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish. "Her garment spreads, and laps him in the folds."
4.
To lay or place over anything so as to partly or wholly cover it; as, to lap one shingle over another; to lay together one partly over another; as, to lap weather-boards; also, to be partly over, or by the side of (something); as, the hinder boat lapped the foremost one.
5.
(Carding & Spinning) To lay together one over another, as fleeces or slivers for further working.
To lap boards, To lap shingles, etc., to lay one partly over another.
To lap timbers, to unite them in such a way as to preserve the same breadth and depth throughout, as by scarfing.


Lap  v. t.  To take into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue. "They 'II take suggestion as a cat laps milk."


Lap  v. i.  To be turned or folded; to lie partly upon or by the side of something, or of one another; as, the cloth laps back; the boats lap; the edges lap. "The upper wings are opacous; at their hinder ends, where they lap over, transparent, like the wing of a flay."


Lap  v. i.  
1.
To take up drink or food with the tongue; to drink or feed by licking up something. "The dogs by the River Nilus's side, being thirsty, lap hastily as they run along the shore."
2.
To make a sound like that produced by taking up drink with the tongue. "I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, And the wild water lapping on the crag."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Lap" Quotes from Famous Books



... related them to each other. But habitual metaphor prevents this process of relation; it is the intrusion of ready-made matter, with its own stale associations, into matter that should be new-made for its own particular purpose of expression. Phrases like—The lap of luxury, Part and parcel, A sea of troubles, Passing through the furnace, Beyond the pale, The battle of life, The death-warrant of, Parrot cries, The sex-war, Tottering thrones, A trail of glory, Bull-dog tenacity, Hats off to, The narrow way, A load of sorrow, ...
— Tract XI: Three Articles on Metaphor • Society for Pure English
... amazed to return her salutation. He stared at her, then he bowed his thick neck and stared at the flabby bag. He did not even offer her a seat, but she was in no way disconcerted by that. She chose a chair, drew it up in front of him, sat down, and crumpled the bag up in her lap. ...
— The Co-Citizens • Corra Harris
... time before in his weak, half-starved state the poor boy could make them understand, for he had completely broken down: and it was not until he had swallowed a little biscuit soaked in wine, as he lay with his head in Mrs Beane's lap, that he at last told hysterically of how he had managed to crawl by the French outposts and ...
— Our Soldier Boy • George Manville Fenn
... passed by Miss Warwick, he dropped his purse into her lap, and he was gone before she ...
— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth
... their past joys and sorrows are a real experience, when they are suddenly transported to a new land, where the beings around them know nothing of their history, and share none of their ideas—where their mother earth shows another lap, and human life has other forms than those on which their souls have been nourished. Minds that have been unhinged from their old faith and love, have perhaps sought this Lethean influence of exile, in which the past becomes dreamy because its symbols ...
— George Eliot; A Critical Study of Her Life, Writings & Philosophy • George Willis Cooke


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