[f. LAP v.1 + -ING1.]
1. That laps or takes up liquid with the tongue.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. i. (1495), 742. Kynde ordenyth wysely in houndes and in other lappynge beestes tendre tonge longe and plyaunt.
transf. and fig. 1865. Swinburne, Ilicet, 80. Roses whose lips the flame has deadened Drink till the lapping leaves are reddened.
1871. Rossetti, Last Confess., 349. The … flame … has come to be The lapping blaze of hell’s environment Whose tongues all bid the molten heart despair.
2. Of water, waves: Breaking gently on the shore, etc.; plashing softly.
1862. M. Hopkins, Hawaii, 355. This Aphrodite stepping on shore from the lapping waters was instantly recognized as superlatively beautiful.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xxvii. 454. The yacht … was cutting her placid way through the lapping waves.
1894. Gladstone, Horace, Odes, III. xvii. Where lapping Liris pours His current on Marica’s shores.
