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lap

noun

  1. circuit of a racecourse, field, large room, etc.
  2. completion of a competitive circuit
  3. top of legs on a sitting person
L14519 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. gently rise and fall against a shoreline (water)
  2. drink by dipping the tongue
  3. pass a second time on a race track
  4. apply the tongue to gently
L14520 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /læp/

adj

  1. Clipping of laparoscopic.

noun

  1. Clipping of laparoscopy.
  2. Clipping of laparotomy

verb

Etymology: From Middle English lappen, from Old English lapian, from Proto-West Germanic *lapōn, from Proto-Germanic *lapōną, *lapjaną (“to lick; lap”), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *leh₂b- (“to lap, lick”); 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.

  1. 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.

    They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.

  2. To wash against a surface with a splashing sound; to swash.

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