Forms: 1 læppa, 3–7 lappe, 6 lepp, 4– lap. [OE. lappa, læppa wk. masc. = OFris. lappa, OS. lappo (Essen gloss.), MDu. lappe (Du. lap), OHG. (with unexplained pp instead of pf) lappa fem. (MHG. lappe masc. and fem., mod.G. lappen masc.); cf. ON. lepp-r clout, rag, lock of hair.
App. the OTeut. type would be *lappon- with pp for earlier pn; the pre-Teut. root might be either *lop-, *lob-, or *lobh-. Scholars have variously suggested connection with Gr. λόβος LOBE (see sense 2 a below), with Skr. ramb-, lamb-, to hang loose, or with Lith. lópas patch.]
1. A part (of a garment or the like) either hanging down or projecting so as to admit of being folded over; a flap, lappet. In later use chiefly, a piece that hangs down at the bottom of a garment, one of the skirts of a coat, a portion of the skirt of a robe. Hence pl. (colloq.) a tail-coat.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xxviii. 197. [Dauid] forcearf his mentles ænne læppan [L. oram chlamydis].
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 101/29. And cam ant touchede þe lappe of ore louerdes cloþes ene.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 201. Wyth lappez large.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1356. Bi þe byȝt al of þe þyȝes, Þe lappez þay lance bi-hynde.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 399 (448). She hym a-gayn by þe lappe caughte.
a. 1400. Sir Beues, 2456 (MS. S). Þe Lyoun … with his teeþ … kitte a pece of his lappe.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3255. And with ladily lappes the lenghe of a ȝerde.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. li. (1869), 200. And hadde trussed hire lappes in hire girdel, redy … for to wrastle.
c. 1460. Emare, 654. Her vysage she gan hyde, With the hynther lappes [of her surkote].
1502. Ord. Crysten Men, II. v. (W. de W., 1506), 95. Pryde is shewed in gownes, in furres, with sleues with syde lappes or plyted.
1530. Palsgr., 237/2. Lappe or skyrt, gyron.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. v. 3. Take a little off the same & bynde it in thy cote lappe.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. xi. 258. Their women … vpon their heades do vse a certeine attire,… wherof the one lappe so rangeth vpon whiche side semeth her good.
1583. Satir. Poems Reform., xlv. 870. Who tuke him by the lap and lewch.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 638. The Ephod … had foure laps or wings.
1620. in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 172. They were never able to cut so much as the lap of her coat.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. (1862), I. 200. Let me beseech your Lordship to draw by the lap of time’s curtain and to look in thro’ the window to great and endless eternity.
a. 1656. Hales, Gold. Rem. (1688), 262. When David had cut off the lap of Saul’s Garment.
17[?]. Mary Myle, xii. in Child, Ballads (1889), III. 386. The lap cam aff her shoe.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., III. 259. Wiped his eyes … with the lap of his plaid.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, xi. With the lap of my cloak cast over my face. Ibid. (1828), F. M. Perth, viii. The … horseman’s feet did not by any means come beneath the laps of the saddle.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Laps, the skirts of a coat.
1878. Mozley’s Ess., I. Introd. p. xvi. A little fellow in a jacket, which had to be exchanged for ‘laps’ before the examination.
fig. 1651. Coronat. Chas. II. at Scoone, 7. That we may be far from cutting of a lap of that just power … which God hath allowed to the King.
† b. transf. The outlying part (of an army). Cf. the use of ‘skirt.’ Obs.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 314. The laird of Cesfurde … sett on fercelie wpoun the lape and winge of the laird of Balclucheis feild.
2. Applied to certain parts of the body:
a. of the ear, liver, lungs: = LOBE. Obs. exc. in ear-lap. [A Com. Teut. sense.]
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 198. Sio [lifer] biþ on þa swiþran sidan aþened oþ þone neweseoþan sio hæfð fif læppan.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 631/8. Lap of þe ere.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Fibræ, are the extreme partes of the liuer, the hart, or the lunges, or of other thinges wherin is any diuysyon, they maye be called lappes, brymmes.
1573. Baret, Alv., L 86. The lappes of the lights or lunges, fibræ pulmonis.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 402. The laps or fillets of the liver of a Mouse.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. lix. (1739), 117. The Synod … decreed that men should cut their Hair so as their Eyes and laps of their Ears might be seen.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 912. The convulsion of the laps of the lungs (which useth to be a deadly disease).
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 799. The lap of the ear, lobus.
1722. Ramsay, Three Bonnets, II. 52. Require a thing I’ll part wi’ never! She’s get as soon a lap o’ my liver.
† b. A fold of flesh or skin; occas. the female pudendum, Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Earth. De P. R., XVIII. xiii. (MS. Bodl. 3738). In Siria beþ oxen þat haue no dewe lappis nother fresche lappes vnder þrote [L. palearia sub gutture].
c. 1420. [see DEWLAP].
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 16. The two great tuskes … hauinge on euerye syde lappes hanging downe of the bignes of two hand brea[d]th.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. xiii. 60. By reason of his soliditie and hardness inconcocted … it doth fret and teare the laps of the stomach.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 74. The female [is gelded] by searing her privy parts within the brim and laps thereof with a hot iron.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 250. The Clitoris is a small body, not continuated at all with the bladder, but placed in the height of the lap.
† 3. A piece of cloth, a cloth, clout. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 529. That he pryuely Sholde this child … winde and wrappe And carie it in a cofre or in a lappe.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3286. Nowe es lefte me no lappe my lygham to hele.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxiv. 265. A lap … ffor-tatyrd and torne.
14[?]. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems, 227. For ich nabbe clout ne lappe.
4. The ‘lap’ (sense 1) of a garment used as a receptacle. † a. The fold of a robe (e.g., the toga) over the breast, which served as a pocket or pouch; hence, the bosom.
In figurative use this sense is sometimes hardly to be distinguished from sense 5.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 284/229. In heore lappen huy brouȝten mete.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 273. In hus bosom he bar a thyng and that he blessede ofte. And ich loked in hus lappe, a lazar lay ther-ynne.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 1800. Thai smyten of here hedes alle, Eche man toke one in his lappe.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lxix. 321 (Harl. MS.). Such ben to be put out of þe lappe of holy chirche.
1484. Caxton, Chivalry, i. 6. He beganne to rede in a lytyl book that he had in his lappe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. xv. 19. Hys rych mantill, of quham the forbreist lappis … was buklit wyth a knot.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXXIX. iv. [Your harvest] Filling neither reapers hand Nor the binders inbow’d lapp.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXI. xviii. 403. Having made a hollow lap within the plait and fold of his side gowne.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vi. § 14. 31. It was the Christian Church which … did preserve in the sacred lappe and bosome thereof, the pretious Reliques even of Heathen learning.
1643. Myst. Iniq., 3. He desires that the Prince of Wales might be brought backe againe into the lap of the Romish Church.
b. The front portion of a skirt when held up to contain or catch something.
13[?]. Seuyn Sag. (W.), 901. Ful he gaderede his barm, In his other lappe he gaderede some.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 433. She … heeld hir lappe abrood, for wel sche wiste The ffaukon moste fallen fro the twist.
1636. Heywood, Love’s Mistress, II. i. Wks. 1874, V. 109. Hold up your lapps; tho’ them you cannot see That bring this gold.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. i. Followed by girls with laps full of flowers.
1848. Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850), 41. Some come dancing forward with flowers in their hands or in the lap of their robe.
5. The front portion of the body from the waist to the knees of a person seated, considered with its covering garments as the place in or on which a child is nursed or any object held.
c. 1275. Lay., 30261. Com þar a bour-cniht and sat adun forþ riht … he nam þan kynges hefd and leyde vppe his lappe [earlier text in his bærm].
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 6766. Als a childe þat sittes in þe moder lappe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 686. His walet lay biforn hym in his lappe.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IX. 283. Ich sauh hym [Lazarus] sitte … in Abraham’s lappe.
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Min. Poems (1892), 231. Streeche out anoon thy lappe, In which wole I myn heed doun leye and reste.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lxv. 286 (Harl. MS.). She late hit [a stone] fall in þe lappe of gwido.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xvi. 34. The lottes are cast in to the lappe, but their fall stondeth in the Lord.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. iii. 3. A Saylors Wife had Chestnuts in her Lappe.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1060. So rose … Herculean Samson from the Harlot-lap Of Philistean Dalilah.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 15, ¶ 2. She lays me upon my Face in her Lap.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 387. A child will never grow to vigorous manhood, who is kept always in his mother’s lap.
1792. Charlotte Smith, Desmond, III. 125. Of those six [persons], three were infants in lap.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, iii. 43. Dora had sunk down at her mother’s feet, hiding her face in her lap.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, VI. iii. The child lay outstretched on Grannie’s lap.
b. transf. A hollow among hills.
1745. Warton, Pleas. Melanch., 253. Sunny vales In prospect vast their level laps expand.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Leg. Sleepy Hollow (1865), 416. A little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills.
1847. Le Fanu, T. O’Brien, 312. A little village lay in the lap of a hill.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 126. Edlingham church stands in a green lap of a vale.
1883. Harper’s Mag., Aug., 327/1. Two hundred miles west from Philadelphia (it is 236 by rail) lies Altoona, in the lap of the Alleghany Mountains.
c. fig. Freq. in such expressions as in fortune’s, nature’s, pleasure’s lap; bred up, nursed, etc. in the lap of (luxury, etc.). † To lay in (a person’s) lap: to thrust upon his notice. For in the lap of Providence, the future, cf. Gr. θεῶν ἐν γούνασι.
1531. Elyot, Gov., II. iv. Lete yonge gentilmen haue often times tolde to them, and (as it is vulgarely spoken) layde in their lappes, how [etc.].
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. ii. 47. Who are the Violets now, That strew the greene lap of the new-come Spring?
1598. Spenser, Wks. (Grosart), I. 544. A Countrie of yor owne dominion, lying hard vnder the lapp of England.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, V. 2125. I luld a sleep in pleasures lap.
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 266. He would … sleepe securely vpon the lap of Gods protection.
1646. Hamilton Papers (Camden), 124. When they finde these wishes throwne in their lap, [they] will be apt enough to turne their sailes another way.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1041. Flowers were the couch … Earth’s freshest softest lap.
1712. Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 105. There is in the Lap of Providence an appointed Time yet to come.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 593. They pine beneath the brightest skies, In Nature’s richest lap.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., I. 259. What Numbers, once in Fortune’s Lap high-fed, Solicit the cold Hand of Charity!
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 172. But winter lingering chills the lap of May.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 30. Nursed in the lap of indolence.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, II. xii. 402. Bred up … in the lap of republican freedom.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. vi. 36. Brought up in the lap of luxury.
1803. R. Hall, Wks. (1833), I. 190. Freedom poured into our lap opulence and arts.
1806. A. Duncan, Nelson, 317. A thorough seaman … nursed in the lap of hardship.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 217. The current of presents … flowed very naturally, and very copiously, into the lap of the strangers.
1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xv. Madeline asleep in lap of legends old.
1822. Byron, Werner, II. ii. 103. Rash, new to life, and rear’d in luxury’s lap.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 May, 1/2. These things, however, lie in the lap of the future.
† 6. To fall into the lap or laps of: to come within the reach, or into the power, of. Also, to be left in the laps: to be left in difficulties, ‘in the lurch.’ (Lapse is sometimes written for laps, by confusion with LAPSE sb.)
The origin of this use is somewhat obscure; it may be from sense 5; but cf. G. durch die lappen gehen, to escape, get clear off, where lappen means literally a contrivance for catching deer.
1558. in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. App. iv. 5. Clemency to be extended not before they do … acknowledge themselves to have fallen in the Lapse of the Law.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 153 b. In the retire they fel into the lappes of their ennemies.
1598. R. Bernard, Terence, Andria, III. v. Dost thou not see me left in the lapps thro’ thy device and counsaile?
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. li. (1612), 230. They will exact by Torture what thou thinkest,… till in the Lapse thou fall.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1644), 122. Let them blame their own folly if they … fall head-long into the lap of endless perdition.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, V. (1704), 463/1. They cannot avoid falling into the lap of one of the other two [ships].
7. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 5) † lap-child, -cloth, † -mantle, -spaniel (cf. LAP-DOG), -thing; lap-board, a board to lay on the lap, as a substitute for a table; lap-cock (see quot. 1848); † lap-lettuce, ? curly lettuce; † lap-lock = DEWLAP; lap-shaver (see quot.); lap-table = lap-board; lap-tea (U.S. local), a tea at which the guests take refreshments in their laps, not at a table. Also LAP-DOG, LAPSTONE.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lap-board, a board resting on the lap and hollowed out on the side next the user. Employed by tailors and seamstresses to cut out work upon.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. iii. § 3. Canterbury his servants dandled this *lap-childe with a witness.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, I. v. 409. The *lap-cloth, under the name of ‘gremiale,’ is still employed in our ritual.
1880. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, IV. xiv. (1884), 223. They laved their hands again, had their lapcloths shaken out.
1802. Dubourdieu, Statist. Surv. Down, 125. It [grass] is made into small cocks called *lap-cocks.
1848. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IX. II. 515. Lap-cocks, i.e. … small heaps of the dimensions just capable of being taken up in the arms.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xx. (1813), 425. Small sallading and *lap lettuce … on a little heat.
1660. Hexham, Dutch Dict., Vaen, the Bullocks, or *Laplock of Oxen.
1603. Q. Eliz., Wardr., in Leisure Hour (1884), 673/2. 18 *lappe mantles.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lap-shaver, a machine for shaving leather to a thickness…. The term is derived from the old practice of shaving away inequalities by means of a knife while the leather is laid upon a board in the lap.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4144/4. A *Lap Spaniel … Bitch.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Lap table, a sewing or cutting-out table, supported in or over the lap.
1866. Lowell, Biglow P., Introd., Poems 1890, II. 197. *Lap-tea: where the guests are too many to sit at table.
1740. J. Miller, Mahomet, II. ii. Shall enervating contagious love … make a *lapthing of me?
