lap > define
noun
- The upper side of the thighs of a seated person.
- usage: "he picked up the little girl and plopped her down in his lap"
- An area of control or responsibility.
- usage: "the job fell right in my lap"
- The part of a piece of clothing that covers the thighs.
- usage: "his lap was covered with food stains"
- synonyms: lap covering
- A flap that lies over another part.
- usage: "the lap of the shingles should be at least ten inches"
- synonyms: overlap
- Movement once around a course.
- usage: "he drove an extra lap just for insurance"
- Touching with the tongue.
- usage: "the dog's laps were warm and wet"
- synonyms: lick
verb
- Lie partly over or alongside of something or of one another.
- Pass the tongue over.
- usage: "the dog licked her hand"
- synonyms: lick
- Move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound.
- usage: "The bubbles swoshed around in the glass"; "The curtain swooshed open"
- Take up with the tongue.
- usage: "The cat lapped up the milk"; "the cub licked the milk from its mother's breast"
- Wash or flow against.
- usage: "the waves laved the shore"
by WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
- (n.) To wrap or wind around something.
- (v.i.) To take up drink or food with the tongue; to drink or feed by licking up something.
- (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.
- (n.) The sound of lapping.
- (n.) 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.
- (n.) 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.
- (n.) The act of lapping with or as with, the tongue; as, to take anything into the mouth with a lap.
- (n.) To infold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish.
- (n.) The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
- (n.) To lay together one over another, as fleeces or slivers for further working.
- (n.) 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.
- (v.i.) To make a sound like that produced by taking up drink with the tongue.
- (n.) 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.
- (n.) 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.
- (v.t.) To take into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue.
- (n.) A sheet, layer or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
- (n.) To fold; to bend and lay over or on something; as, to lap a piece of cloth.
- (n.) 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.
- (n.) 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).
- (v.t.) To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc. See 1st Lap, 10.
- (v.t.) To rest or recline in a lap or as in a lap.
- (n.) One circuit around a race track, especially 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.
- (n.) An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
by Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary