Also 7 lap(p)s. [ad. L. lapsus (u- stem), a slip or fall, f. lābī to glide, slip, fall. Cf. F. laps. In Eng. the physical senses are of late appearance, though earlier than in the vb.]
1. A ‘slip’ of the memory, the tongue, the pen, or † the understanding; a slight error, a mistake.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 100. Anone by lapse of tonge they ronne in to inconuenyentes.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, II. viii. (1611), 76. Lest they fall into the Laps of the iteration or doubling of any prohibited words.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 7. Not Heresies in me, but bare Errors, and single Lapses of my understanding.
1665. Stillingfl., Acc. Protest. Relig., 198. Those very words which his Lordship, by a lapse of memory, attributes to Occham.
1674. Dryden, State Innoc., Author’s Apol. Heroic Poet. (1692), B 1 b. ’Tis … unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a Pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted.
1706. [E. Ward], Wooden World Dissected (1744), 13. but some times their villanous Reflexions take Wind, and then ten to one but their Bullet-heads compound for the Lapses of their Tongue.
1885. W. H. Thompson, in Athenæum, 23 May, 662/1. A further lapse of memory in the venerable astronomer’s letter is the statement [etc.].
2. A falling from rectitude, imputable to weakness or lack of precaution: a moral ‘slip.’
1582. Earl Essex, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. III. 80. I do beseache your good Lordship, notwithstanding the lapse of my youth, still to continue a loving frende unto me.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. iii. 170. I will throw thee … Into the staggers, and the carelesse lapse Of youth and ignorance.
1672. Wilkins, Nat. Relig., 225. The fear of God … must fortifie us in our temptations, and restore us in our lapses.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 276, ¶ 1. To … abruptly inform a virtuous Woman of the Lapse of one who till then was in the same Degree of Esteem with her self.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), II. v. 362. The severe training which he had undergone made him less charitable for the lapses of others.
† b. Theol. The ‘Fall’ (of Adam). Obs.
1659. Pearson, Creed, x. 729. The first affection we can conceive in him upon the lapse of man, is wrath and indignation.
a. 1711. Ken, Psyche, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 217. To heav’nly Truths my Mind Is by the Lapse, born Blind.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 375. Evil is represented to have been brought upon the human race by the lapse of Adam.
c. A lapsing or apostatizing from the faith, a falling into heresy. Also, in weaker sense, an involuntary deviation from one’s principles or rule of action.
1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., V. xvii. 206. Suspecting our selves not to have emerged quite out of this General Apostasy of the Church, info which the Spirit of God has foretold she would be lapsed for 1260 years; let us see if we can find out what Remainders of this Lapse are still upon us.
1753. Scots Mag., July, 315/1. Of our lapses and relapses since, I may perhaps treat.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, iv. Wks. IX. 66. It is from their lapses and deviations from their principle, that alone we have any thing to hope.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., I. iii. 43. Laud … read a list of persons whom he had recovered from their lapses into Papistry.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, I. I. ii. 9. Domingo heard of men being stabbed and hung for lapse of faith.
3. A decline to a lower state or degree; † a fall (in temperature).
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 8 a. Accordynge to the lapse or decaye of the temperatures of the sayd humours.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, viii. 170. If … the lapse be in heat, meates and drinkes of colde quality agreeable to the lapse … are to be vsed.
1680. Burnet, Rochester (1692), 85. So that it is plain there is a Lapse of the high powers of the Soul.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiv. III. 434. The hero sank again into a voluptuary; and the lapse was deep and hopeless.
1875. Poste, Gaius, I. (ed. 2), 125. A lapse from liber to servus was a dissolution of marriage, for servus was incapable of matrimony.
1883. H. Spencer, in Contemp. Rev., XLIII. 5. All these lapses from higher to lower forms begin in trifling ways.
4. a. Law. The termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through failure of some contingency. In early use only with reference to ecclesiastical patronage.
1570. Act 13 Eliz., c. 12 § 7. No Title to confer or present by Lapse, shall accrue upon any Depryvation, ipso facto.
1615. Jas. I., in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 171. Spiritual livings do often fall void either by lapse or by the death of the incumbent.
1642. trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., i. § 15 8. After the five moneths past the Ordinary shall present for Lapps.
1654. Bramhall, Just Vind., iv. (1661), 69. The King only could incurr no lapse, Nullum tempus occurrit Regi.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 117. A Layman ought to Present within four Months, and a Clergyman within six, otherwise a Devolution or Lapse of Right happens.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 276. The law has therefore given this right of lapse, in order to quicken the patron.
1788. H. Walpole, Remin., vii. 53. By the lapse of some annuities on lives not so prolonged as her own, she found herself straitened.
1827. Jarman, Powell’s Devises (ed. 3), II. 51. The destination of sums, given out of the produce of land devised to be sold, failing by lapse.
1844. Williams, Real Prop. (1877), 210. The failure of a devise by the decease of the devisee in the testator’s lifetime, is called a lapse.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xvii. 621. The Presentation to vacant churches after lapse.
b. gen. A falling into disuse; an intermission.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), II. xiv. 41. Restoring the authority of the law, which was exposed to such perpetual lapses.
1847–9. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. I. (1851), 7. A casual function which may be fulfilled at once after any lapse of exercise.
5. A falling into ruin. rare.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vii. § 6. 35. His [Adrian’s] whole time was a very restauration of all the lapses and decayes of former times.
1894. Blackmore, Perlycross, 7. The vaults of the Waldron race lay at the bottom of half the lapse [of a church].
6. A gliding, flow (of water); quasi-concr. a gliding flood. Also occas. a gentle downward motion.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 263. Sunny Plaines, And liquid Lapse of murmuring Streams.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XVII. 232. From the rock, with liquid lapse distills A limpid fount.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 326. The downy flakes Descending, and, with never-ceasing lapse Softly alighting upon all below, Assimilate all objects.
1794. Hurdis, Tears Affect., 22. The liquid lapse Of Rother gliding o’er some pebbly shoal.
1822. T. Taylor, Apuleius, 98. Near the lapse of the fountain there was a royal house.
1825. Longf., Burial of Minnisink, 4. With soft and silent lapse came down The glory, that the wood receives, At sunset, in its golden leaves.
1850. Mrs. Browning, My Doves, vi. They listen … For lapse of water, swell of breeze.
1856. Aird, Poet. Wks., 27. Down comes the stream, a lapse of living amethyst.
1879. Trench, Poems, 52. With lapse just audible, From font to font the waters fell.
fig. 1800. Moore, Remarks on Anacreon, 5. The sweetest lapses of the cygnet’s song.
c. 1800. K. White, Poems (1837), 138. And laugh, and seize the glittering lapse of joy.
b. Of life, time, etc.: The gliding or passing away, passage; a period or interval elapsed.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 13, ¶ 3. During this gentle lapse of life.
1790. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), III. 416. The term of his [Azo’s] mortal existence was almost commensurate with the lapse of the eleventh century.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 484. Troops … could not … be collected without a lapse of time.
1853. M. Arnold, Scholar Gipsy, xv. No, no, thou hast not felt the lapse of hours.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., v. 124. A lapse of a hundred years is not much in the story of such a city as Florence.
1898. J. T. Fowler, Durham Cathedral, 62. Old inhabitants, after a lapse of nearly three centuries and a half, still speak of ‘The Abbey.’
¶ 7. Confused with laps, pl. of LAP sb.
1558, 1602. [see LAP sb.1 6].
