lap

CEFRC1

/læp/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The flat area formed by your thighs when sitting.

  2. 02

    verb

    To drink or take in liquid with the tongue.

Examples

  • Ben acted out the scene of the waitress spilling soup in his lap.

  • There's only one seat so you'll have to sit on my lap.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.

  2. The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered.

  3. The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.

More examples

In context

  • You have only to sit quietly with your hands folded in your lap.

  • The boy was sitting on his mother's lap.

  • to lap a bandage around a finger

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The little girl sat comfortably on her grandmother's blank to hear a story.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English lappe, from Old English læppa (“skirt or flap of a garment”), from Proto-West Germanic *lappō, from Proto-Germanic *lappô (“cloth; rag”), of uncertain origin, possibly Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”). Cognate with Dutch lap (“cloth; rag”), German Lappen (“cloth; lobe; flap”), Icelandic leppur (“rag; patch”).