# lapping

Pronunciation: say "LAP-ing" /ˈlæpɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of lap. — present participle and gerund of lap
   - Simple: Present participle of lap. Use this form for an action happening right now.
   - _Floodwater kept lapping at the sandbags through the night._
   - _She loved the feeling of cool water lapping around her ankles._

## Noun

2. The gentle, rhythmic sound made by water splashing softly against a solid surface.
   - Simple: The soft, repeated sound of water hitting the side of something solid.
   - _The lapping of waves against the hull lulled the crew to sleep._
   - _From the cabin she could hear the steady lapping at the shoreline._
3. The process of rubbing or polishing a metal surface to make it smooth.
   - Simple: The careful rubbing of a metal surface to make it smooth.
   - _Lapping the gauge blocks produced surfaces flat to within a fraction of a micron._
   - _The machinist relied on lapping to achieve the precise flatness the part required._
4. A form of fraud in which payments recorded in the accounts are repeatedly delayed between periods, or shifted between customers, to conceal a theft.
   - Simple: A kind of theft hidden by delaying payments or shifting them between customers' accounts.
   - _The clerk concealed the missing funds through lapping, applying each new payment to the previous customer's balance._
   - _Investigators traced the lapping back through months of misposted receipts._
5. In textile making, the forming of fibrous material into a lap, or flat fleece, ready to be fed into a carding machine.
   - Simple: The making of loose fibers into a flat, even layer to feed a carding machine.
   - _Even lapping ensured the carding machine received a uniform web of fiber._
   - _Defects in the cotton often showed up during lapping, before the fibers reached the cards._
6. Material that calico printers use as a blanket or wrapping on their printing machines.
   - Simple: A kind of cloth wrapped around a machine roller in fabric printing.
   - _Printers fitted the cylinder with lapping to protect the fabric from the engraved roller._
   - _Worn lapping left faint marks across the printed calico._
7. The process of rubbing away the lands (the metal ridges between the grooves of a rifled gun barrel) to enlarge the bore.
   - Simple: The rubbing away of the metal ridges inside a rifled gun barrel to make the bore wider.
   - _Lapping the barrel removed minor imperfections left by the rifling process._
   - _Careful lapping enlarged the bore just enough to restore accuracy._
8. Lengths of fine silk, metal wire, or whalebone wound tightly around the stick of a string instrument's bow, next to the leather grip at the heel.
   - Simple: Thin silk, wire, or whalebone wound tightly around a bow stick next to the grip.
   - _The bow maker replaced the silver lapping just above the heel._
   - _Delicate silk lapping protected the player's thumb where it met the stick._

## Origin

**Meaning 1** — From Middle English lappinge (also wlappynge), equivalent to lap plus the suffix -ing.
**Meanings 2–8** — From Middle English lapping (also lappyng, lappinge), equivalent to lap plus the suffix -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lapping (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).