lap
part of speech
noun (lap, laps); verb (lap, laps, lapped, lapping)
meaning for a pupil
1) A lap is one time around a track, field or pool. tree →
2) Your lap is the flat top part of your legs when you sit down. tree →
3) To lap is to drink by licking with the tongue, like a cat. tree →
4) Water laps when it moves gently against something, like waves on a beach. tree →
5) To lap someone in a race is to get a whole lap ahead of them. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths, a unit of distance repeated: laps × length of one lap. In PE and sport: run laps of the field, swim laps of the pool. In everyday life: a cat sits on your lap, a laptop sits on your lap. In stories, waves lap at the shore. Phrases: «a lap of», «on your lap», «lap up», «the last lap», «victory lap».
examples
- One lap of the track is 400 metres. tree →
- She ran 6 laps. tree →
- How far did she run? tree →
- He swims 20 laps a day. tree →
- The cat curled up on Grandma's lap. tree →
- The dog lapped water from its bowl. tree →
- Waves lapped gently against the boat. tree →
- On the last lap, Ava moved into first place. tree →
- The fastest runner lapped the slowest one. tree →
- The whip lay on his lap. tree →
note
Countable: a lap, laps. Verb past: lapped; -ing: lapping. Laps are repeated equal distances: multiply. Trap: the distance of one lap must be known; «4 laps» alone is not metres. A lap of a pool is often one length there and back, but some say one length — read the story.
In the corpora
- Stroke a cat on your lap and you feel a low rumble through its body: the purr.
- Tom never catches Jerry, cartoon cats lap saucers of milk, and they always land on their feet.
- He agrees and lays his head in her lap.
- A seat is for a person, so put your bag on your lap or the floor when the bus is busy.
- Everyone needs their own seat belt; two children never share one and nobody rides on a lap.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «lap» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.