lap

English has two words spelled lap: one, from Old English læppa, a flap, gives the lap of a seated person and, through a verb meaning to fold or wrap, a circuit of a racetrack; the other, from Old English lapian, means to lick up.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /læp/^[4]

lap¹ the thighs of a seated person; a circuit

Etymology

It is Middle English lappe, inherited from Old English læppa (“skirt or flap of a garment; lobe”),^[1][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *lapp-, source also of Old Saxon lappo, Dutch lap, German Lappen (“rag, shred”) and Old Norse leppr, patch, rag,^[2][3] a word of uncertain origin;^[2] Greek λοβός (lobós, “lobe”) has been compared.^[2][3] The verb, to wrap or fold, and the noun meaning a circuit come from it.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flap of a garment: about 897 in the OED.^[6] The front part from waist to knees of a seated person is probably from before 1300.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

The lower front of a shirt or skirt, held up to carry things, led to the sense of the upper legs of a seated person (about 1300).^[2][7] A lobe of the ear or liver is an Old English sense,^[6] surviving in dewlap.^[2] The figurative lap of luxury is from 1760.^[2] The verb, to wrap or fold round, is from the early 14th century,^[2][1] and to lay one thing partly over another from 1607.^[1] From this came a thing wrapped up (1670s) and an overlapping part (1800);^[2] a single circuit of a racetrack is from 1861, the verb to lap a competitor from 1847.^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 897 – a flap of a garment.^[6]
• c. 1300 – the thighs of a seated person.^[2]
• early 14th century – to wrap (verb).^[2]
• 1607 – to overlap.^[1]
• 1760 – lap of luxury.^[2]
• 1861 – a circuit of a track.^[2][1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The flat area formed by the thighs of a seated person.
2. One circuit of a racetrack or one length of a swimming pool.
3. A stage of a journey.
4. An overlapping part.

Verb

1. To overtake a competitor who is a lap behind.
2. To wrap, fold or enfold.
3. To lay something so that it partly covers something else; to overlap.

Word family

• lapdog
• lapel
• lappet
• overlap
• dewlap

lap² to lick up

Etymology

It is Middle English lapen, inherited from Old English lapian (“to lap up, drink”),^[1][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *lapōną,^[1][2] cognate with Old High German laffan (“to lick”) and Icelandic lepja,^[1][5] from an imitative PIE base *lab-, also the source of Greek laptein, to sip, and Latin lambere (“to lick”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To drink by lapping: about 1000.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

Of water, to splash gently against something, is by 1823, from the similar sound.^[2] The figurative lap up, to receive eagerly, is by 1890.^[2] The noun, liquid food or a weak drink, is from the 1560s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – to lap up.^[1]
• 1560s – weak drink (noun).^[2]
• 1823 – of water, to splash.^[2]
• 1890 – lap up, to accept eagerly.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. Of an animal, to drink by taking up liquid with the tongue.
2. Of water, to wash against something with a gentle splashing sound.
3. (lap up) To accept eagerly.

Related words

• burlap
• lobe
• wrap

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press