nap

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   sleeping for a short period of time

   I took a nap after brunch.

2. 2
   verb

   take a siesta

   I nap every day after lunch for an hour.

3. 3
   verb

   To be off one's guard.

   The regulators were caught napping by the financial collapse.

4. 4
   noun

   A soft or fuzzy surface, generally on fabric or leather.

   I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

5. 5
   noun

   The common direction, on some kinds of fabric, of the hairs making up the pile.

   If the fabric has a nap, make sure all pieces are cut with the nap going the same direction.

6. 6
   noun

   A type of bet in British horse racing, based on the experts' best tips.

   4. Races run on English, Welsh or Scottish racecourses. This criterion was included so that media tipsters ^([sic]) nap selections in general could be analysed; the source of naps, The Racing Rag 'tipster table', summarises the nap selections of newspaper tipsters, who restrict their selection to horses running at racecourses in these countries.

7. 7
   verb

   To cover (something) with a sauce. (usually in the passive)

   Vanilla ice cream topped with a poached or canned pear half, napped with chocolate sauce, and garnished with toasted sliced almonds.

8. 8
   noun

   a card game similar to whist

Etymology

From Middle English nap (“a bowl”), from Old English hnæpp (“a cup, bowl”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnapp, from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“a cup, bowl”). Cognate with Dutch nap (“drinking cup”), Low German Napp (“bowl, cup”), German Napf (“bowl”), Icelandic hnappur (“button, key”). Doublet of hanap. See also nappy.