Nap Meaning
/næp/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo have a nap; to sleep for a short period of time, especially during the day.
verbTo be off one's guard.
Sentence Examples
I may give up soon and just nap instead.
I laid down for a short nap and fell asleep for two hours.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After eating lunch, the baby took a short ____ on the soft blanket.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I usually take a short ____ in the afternoon to recharge my energy levels, as I find that it helps me stay much more productive during the evening.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English nappen, from Old English hnappian (“to doze, slumber, sleep”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnappōn (“to nap”). Cognate with Old High German hnaffezan, hnaffezzan (whence Middle High German nafzen (“to slumber”) whence German dialectal napfezen, nafzen (“to nod, slumber, nap”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I took thee napping, unprepared."
— 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
"I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat."
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “16”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
"There were low bookshelves, there was a thick pinkish Chinese rug in which a gopher could have spent a week without showing his nose above the nap."
— 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 37:
"THEY CALL IT the "nap of the Earth," that area from the ground to the level of surrounding trees and hills, the thin rug of foliage and rock folds at the Earth's skin line that has become all-important to the United States Army."
— 1961, Skyline, page 9:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After eating lunch, the baby took a short ____ on the soft blanket.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I usually take a short ____ in the afternoon to recharge my energy levels, as I find that it helps me stay much more productive during the evening.