lapped

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of lap.

   The kitten lapped the cream until the saucer was empty.

   Gentle waves lapped at the shore through the night.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty: the simple past stands alone (the waves lapped), and the participle follows have or be (the shore had been lapped). The p doubles before -ed. The form also carries lap's quieter senses of folding and enfolding. Something lapped over is bent and laid on top of something else, and something lapped in a covering is wrapped up and held close.

2. 2
   adjective

   Trailing the leader by one or more complete laps in a race, having been overtaken a full circuit behind.

   Blue flags warned the lapped drivers to yield to the faster cars approaching from behind.

   By the halfway mark, three slower competitors were already lapped.

   Note

   A racing word that works before a noun (lapped cars, lapped runners) as readily as after a verb (three competitors were lapped). It takes no degrees: a car is either lapped or it is not. A bigger deficit is counted rather than graded, so a car two circuits behind is lapped twice, never more lapped.

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