lap
noun
- circuit of a racecourse, field, large room, etc.
- completion of a competitive circuit
- top of legs on a sitting person
verb
- gently rise and fall against a shoreline (water)
- drink by dipping the tongue
- pass a second time on a race track
- apply the tongue to gently
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /læp/
adj
- Clipping of laparoscopic.
noun
- Clipping of laparoscopy.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.”