lap

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   touching with the tongue

   the dog's laps were warm and wet

2. 2
   noun

   movement once around a course

   We drove an extra lap just for insurance.

3. 3
   noun

   a flap that lies over another part

   the lap of the shingles should be at least ten inches

4. 4
   noun

   the part of a piece of clothing that covers the thighs

   My lap was covered with food stains.

5. 5
   noun

   the upper side of the thighs of a seated person

   Since I didn't have a table, I ate with the plate on my lap.

6. 6
   noun

   an area of control or responsibility

   the job fell right in my lap

7. 7
   verb

   take up with the tongue

   The cat lapped up the milk

8. 8
   noun

   The upper legs of a seated person.

   The boy was sitting on his mother's lap.

Etymology

From Middle English lappen (“to fold, wrap”) from earlier wlappen (“to fold, wrap”), from Old English *wlappan, *wlæppan, *wlappian (“to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wlapp-, *wrapp- (“to wrap, fold, roll up, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to bend, turn”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lappen (“to wrap up, embrace”), dialectal Danish vravle (“to wind”), Old Italian goluppare (“to wrap, fold up”) (from Germanic). Doublet of wrap. Also related to envelop, develop. The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun meaning "a turn ar…