Part 588

Lapp (lp), n. Same as Laplander. Cf. Lapps.

<! p. 830 !>

Lap*pa"ceous (lp*p"shs), a. [L. lappaceus burlike, fr. lappa a bur.] (Bot.) Resembling the capitulum of burdock; covered with forked points.

Lap"per (?), n. [From Lap to drink.] One who takes up food or liquid with his tongue.

Lap"pet (?), n. [Dim. of lap a fold.] A small decorative fold or flap, esp. of lace or muslin, in a garment or headdress. Swift.

Lappet moth (Zoöl.), one of several species of bombycid moths, which have stout, hairy caterpillars, flat beneath. Two common American species (Gastropacha Americana, and Tolype velleda) feed upon the apple tree.

Lap"pet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lappeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Lappeting.] To decorate with, or as with, a lappet. [R.] Landor.

Lap"pic (?), a. Of or pertaining to Lapland, or the Lapps. -- n. The language of the Lapps. See Lappish.

Lap"ping (?), n. A kind of machine blanket or wrapping material used by calico printers. Ure.

Lapping engine, Lapping machine (Textile Manuf.), A machine for forming fiber info a lap. See its Lap, 9.

Lap"pish (?), a. Of or pertaining to the Lapps; Laplandish. -- n. The language spoken by the Lapps in Lapland. It is related to the Finnish and Hungarian, and is not an Aryan language.

{ Lap*po"ni*an (?), Lap*pon"ic (?), } a. Laplandish; Lappish.

Lapps (?), n. pl.; sing. Lapp (&?;). (Ethnol.) A branch of the Mongolian race, now living in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and the adjacent parts of Russia.

Laps"a*ble (?), a. Lapsible. Cudworth.

Lapse (?), n. [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus, to slide, to fall: cf. F. laps. See Sleep.] 1. A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses.

The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.

Rambler.

Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame.

I. Taylor.

2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude.

To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us.

Rogers.

3. (Law) The termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through failure of some contingency; hence, the devolution of a right or privilege.

4. (Theol.) A fall or apostasy.

Lapse, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lapsed (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Lapsing.] 1. To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses.

A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended.

Swift.

Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character.