Definition of "lap" in Anglais

noun

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

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

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

4. (figuratively) A place of rearing and fostering.

5. The upper legs of a seated person.

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

6. (archaic, euphemistic) The female pudenda.

7. (engineering) A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component.

verb

1. (transitive) To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish.

2. (transitive) To rest or recline in someone's lap, or as in a lap.

verb

1. (transitive) To fold; to bend and lay over or on something.

   • to lap a piece of cloth

2. (transitive) to wrap around, enwrap, wrap up

   • to lap a bandage around a finger

3. (transitive) to envelop, enfold

   • lapped in luxury

4. (intransitive) to wind around

5. (transitive) To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another.

   • One laps roof tiles so that water can run off.

6. (transitive) To polish (a surface, especially metal or gemstone) with very fine abrasive to achieve smoothness and small dimensional changes.

7. (intransitive) To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap.

   • The cloth laps back.
   • The boats lap; the edges lap.

8. (transitive, sports, motor racing) To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler.

9. To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.

noun

1. The act or process of lapping.

2. That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another.

   • the lap of a board

3. The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping.

   • The second boat got a lap of half its length on the leader.

4. The amount by which a slide valve at its half stroke overlaps a port in the seat, being equal to the distance the valve must move from its mid stroke position in order to begin to open the port. Used alone, lap refers to outside lap (see below).