<B>Lapp, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>one of a group of people that live in Lapland, a region in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northwestern Russia, who are small, have short, broad heads, and engage in herding reindeer, fishing, and hunting; Laplander. <BR> <I>Ex. The Lapps of northerly Scandinavia were formerly classed outright as Mongoloids, but they show perhaps as many Alpine as East Asiatic traits (Alfred L. Kroeber).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the language of the Lapps, a Finno-Ugric language; Lappish. </DL>
<A NAME="lappa">
<B>lappa, </B>noun, pl. <B>-pas.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a long piece of cloth wrapped around the waist, worn as a skirt in Liberia and Sierra Leone. </DL>
<A NAME="lapper">
<B>lapper</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one who laps, or takes up (liquid) with the tongue. </DL>
<A NAME="lapper">
<B>lapper</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who laps or folds (linen or other cloth). </DL>
<A NAME="lappet">
<B>lappet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small flap or fold. <BR> <I>Ex. a lappet on a dress.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a loose fold of flesh or membrane. <DD><B> 3. </B>the lobe of the ear. <DD><B> 4. </B>a bird's wattle. </DL>
<A NAME="lappetmoth">
<B>lappet moth,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bombycid moth of the eastern United States whose larva has small lobes along its body and feeds on the leaves of many trees, as the apple, oak, and maple. </DL>
<A NAME="lappish">
<B>Lappish, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the Lapps or their language. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=Lapp </B>(def. 2). </DL>
<A NAME="lappool">
<B>lap pool,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a shallow pool designed for swimming laps, sometimes with the water flowing in a current to swim against. <BR> <I>Ex. The two decided to build an indoor pool--not a big showcase pool, but a serious lap pool (Washington Post).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laprobe">
<B>lap robe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a blanket, fur robe, or similar covering used to keep the lap and legs warm when riding in an automobile, carriage, or other vehicle. </DL>
<A NAME="lapsable">
<B>lapsable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can lapse. </DL>
<A NAME="lapsangsouchong">
<B>lapsang souchong,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fine, smoky variety of souchong (black tea). <BR> <I>Ex. He picked up some lapsang souchong, a very smoky tea that he likes to mix with Darjeeling (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lapse">
<B>lapse, </B>noun, verb, <B>lapsed,</B> <B>lapsing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a slight mistake or error. <BR> <I>Ex. a lapse of the tongue because of carelessness, a lapse of memory.</I> (SYN) slip, fault, indiscretion, misstep. <DD><B> 2. </B>a slipping by; passing away. <BR> <I>Ex. A minute is a short lapse of time. Sunny Plaines, And liquid Lapse of murmuring Streams (Milton).</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>the act of slipping back; sinking down; slipping into a lower condition. <BR> <I>Ex. War is a lapse into savage ways.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the act of falling or passing into any state. <BR> <I>Ex. a lapse into silence.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a slipping or falling away from what is right. <BR> <I>Ex. a moral lapse. The long strife with evil which began With the first lapse of new-created man (John Greenleaf Whittier).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the ending of a right or privilege because it was not renewed, not used, or otherwise neglected. <BR> <I>Ex. the lapse of a lease.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a falling into disuse or ruin. <BR> <I>Ex. the lapse of a custom.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>an apostatizing from the faith; a falling into heresy. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Meteorology.) a decrease of temperature of the atmosphere with increase of altitude. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to make a slight mistake or error. <DD><B> 2. </B>to slip by; pass away. <BR> <I>Ex. The boy's interest soon lapsed. I saw the river lapsing slowly onward (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>to slip back; sink down. <BR> <I>Ex. The abandoned house lapsed into ruin.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to fall or pass into any specified state. <BR> <I>Ex. to lapse into silence. It is difficult to talk to youth today without lapsing into jargon and cliches (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to slip or fall away from what is right. <BR> <I>Ex. Little boys sometimes lapse from good behavior.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(of a right or privilege) to end because it was not renewed, not used, or otherwise neglected. <BR> <I>Ex. His driver's license lapsed when he failed to renew it. If a legal claim is not enforced, it lapses after a certain number of years.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to fall into disuse. <DD><B> 7. </B>to apostatize; forsake one's faith. <BR> <I>Ex. He is a lapsed Presbyterian, while Dolores takes her Catholicism very seriously (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to allow to lapse; forfeit; lose. <BR> <I>Ex. to lapse a right or privilege.</I> noun <B>lapser.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lapserate">
<B>lapse rate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the rate of decrease of atmospheric temperature with increase in altitude. </DL>
<B>lapstrake, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> constructed with each successive board or plate of a boat overlapping the one below it; clinker-built. <DD><I>noun </I> a boat that is clinker-built. </DL>
<B>laptop, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a portable computer. <BR> <I>Ex. Often weighing in at less than 15 pounds, the new laptops ... often come equipped with the same memory as desktop machines (Michael Antonoff).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laputa">
<B>Laputa, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the flying island in Jonathan Swift's <I>Gulliver's Travels,</I> inhabited by philosophers addicted to visionary and absurd projects. </DL>
<A NAME="laputan">
<B>Laputan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or having to do with Laputa. <DD><B> 2. </B>unpractical; visionary. <BR> <I>Ex. Laputan philosophers.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an inhabitant of Laputa. <DD><B> 2. </B>a visionary. </DL>
<A NAME="lapweld">
<B>lap-weld, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to weld with overlapping edges. </DL>
<A NAME="lapwing">
<B>lapwing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a plover of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. the lapwing has a crested head, a slow, irregular flight, and a peculiar wailing cry; pewit; weep. </DL>
<A NAME="lar">
<B>lar, </B>noun, pl. <B>lares.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) a household god. </DL>
<A NAME="larboard">
<B>larboard, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the side of a ship to the left of a person looking from the stern toward the bow; port. <DD><I>adj. </I> on the left side of a ship. </DL>
<A NAME="larcener">
<B>larcener, </B>noun. <B>=larcenist.</B></DL>
<A NAME="larcenist">
<B>larcenist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who commits larceny. </DL>
<A NAME="larcenous">
<B>larcenous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>characterized by larceny; guilty of larceny. <BR> <I>Ex. Burglary is a larcenous offense.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>thievish. <BR> <I>Ex. Blue jays are known for their larcenous habits.</I> adv. <B>larcenously.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="larceny">
<B>larceny, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the unlawful taking, carrying away, and using of the personal property of another person without his consent; theft. (SYN) robbery, thievery. The distinction between grand larceny and petit larceny, based on the value of the property stolen, still exists in some states of the United States but was abolished in England in 1827. </DL>
<A NAME="larch">
<B>larch, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a tree with small, woody cones, and needles that fall off in the autumn. The larches belong to the pine family. <DD><B> 2. </B>the strong, tough wood of this tree. </DL>
<A NAME="lard">
<B>lard, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the fat of pigs or hogs, melted down and made clear. Lard is made especially of the internal fat of the abdomen and is used in cooking. <BR> <I>Ex. Mother uses lard in making pies. (Figurative.) Less taut novels have similar faults concealed beneath the lard (New York Times).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put strips of bacon or salt pork in or on (meat) before cooking. <DD><B> 2. </B>to give variety to; enrich; embellish. <BR> <I>Ex. The speaker larded his speech with jokes and stories. The facts ... are still generally unknown, and they have become larded with myths and barroom fantasy (Newsweek).</I> (SYN) garnish, interlard. <DD><B> 3. </B>to put lard on or in; grease. <BR> <I>Ex. Lard the pan well. Falstaff sweats to death, and Lards the lean earth as he walks along (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) to fatten. <BR><I>expr. <B>lard in,</B> </I>to insert or introduce. <BR> <I>Ex. Stations try to lard in commercials so they don't interrupt programs (Maclean's).</I> adj. <B>lardlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lardaceous">
<B>lardaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or like lard. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Pathology.) of or having to do with a form of degeneration in which a protein substance (amyloid) is deposited in the tissues, especially those of the abdominal organs. </DL>
<A NAME="larder">
<B>larder, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a place where food is kept; pantry. <DD><B> 2. </B>a supply of food. <BR> <I>Ex. The hunter's larder included flour, bacon, and what he had shot. (Figurative.) The most gratifying factor about Canada's restocking of her foreign exchange larder is that January and February are traditionally months that show a drain in reserves (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="larderbeetle">
<B>larder beetle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of small beetle whose larvae are very destructive to stored meat, cheese, and stuffed animals in museums. The larvae are covered with whitish-brown hairs. </DL>
<A NAME="lardon">
<B>lardon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a narrow strip of bacon fat or salt pork fat inserted in meat in larding. </DL>
<A NAME="lardoon">
<B>lardoon, </B>noun. <B>=lardon.</B></DL>
<A NAME="lardtype">
<B>lard-type, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> raised or bred to turn eaten feed into fat. <BR> <I>Ex. a lard-type hog.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lardy">
<B>lardy, </B>adjective, <B>lardier,</B> <B>lardiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of or like lard. <BR> <I>Ex. Her face was wide and flat and lardy white (New Yorker). (Figurative.) The President has sent to Congress a lardy budget (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>plump; fat. <BR> <I>Ex. a lardy face.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lardydardy">
<B>lardy-dardy, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British Slang.) languidly genteel or foppish; affected. <BR> <I>Ex. the lardy-dardy school of acting.</I> </DL>
