How to Use lap in a Sentence

lap

1 of 2 noun
  • The race was red-flagged for 15 minutes to clean up the track with eight laps to go.
    John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2024
  • The elephant isn’t just in the room, it’s sprawled across both of your laps, singing show tunes.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2023
  • One of them hurled a fish at the audience—Suzy Menkes, then the doyen of The Times, caught it in her lap.
    Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 16 Apr. 2024
  • Some people run laps on the track or hike a few miles over the weekend, but me?
    Stephanie Osmanski, Southern Living, 27 Mar. 2024
  • One lap is for Mercury, two are for Venus and three are for Earth, etc.
    Joan Rusek, cleveland, 17 Sep. 2023
  • The men gave them lap dances and showed off their abs, which left the women swooning.
    Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 5 Jan. 2024
  • But even a year early, the trek is a victory lap for the band.
    Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024
  • The whole thing is stable on your lap and very well-balanced.
    Wes Davis, The Verge, 3 Sep. 2023
  • Guests can then wind down with a drink beside the garden lap pool or in the Guinguette café.
    Monica Mendal, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Rose and Jones were running side-by-side with about 16 laps to go when Rose spun around.
    Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 13 Aug. 2023
  • That means Last Week Tonight got two victory laps in the same week.
    Vulture, 19 Jan. 2024
  • Midgette saw a man sitting on his porch with a rifle in his lap.
    Ames Alexander and, Charlotte Observer, 3 May 2024
  • The first caution in nearly 200 laps came moments from the white flag.
    Shane Connuck, Charlotte Observer, 8 Apr. 2024
  • The breed is known for enjoying warm laps, not the great outdoors.
    Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2023
  • And Gromit was just so chill on Chris's lap while Chris was rolling calls, planning out the season.
    Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 23 Aug. 2023
  • The top seven drivers turned laps faster than Tagliani's record, and 18 topped last year's pole lap.
    Dave Kallmann, Journal Sentinel, 28 July 2023
  • Her eyes were half open, lips parted, hands in her lap and upturned.
    Zach Williams, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
  • Lay your infant or child across your lap and on their stomach.
    Leah Groth, Health, 20 Sep. 2023
  • Bourne had to run a lap for making a mistake during 11-on-11 drills.
    Nicole Yang, BostonGlobe.com, 27 July 2023
  • In the blurry clip, a woman with brown, wavy hair can be seen with a child on her lap in the background of karaoke at the reception.
    Jill Lupupa, Peoplemag, 18 July 2023
  • Montoya led the points from the season-opening race right until the final lap.
    Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023
  • The White House was quick to take a victory lap afterward.
    Haisten Willis, Washington Examiner, 8 Nov. 2023
  • The Wave Waterpark has water slides, a lazy river, lap pools and tot play area.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Bryant and her daughter match in red sweatsuits, with the proud mom holding her daughter on her lap.
    Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 5 Dec. 2023
  • In the cute snap, Cuoco held Matilda in her lap on the plane as the little one sported a pair of large headphones over her ears.
    Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 23 Nov. 2023
  • In both of the images, Ella can be seen smiling at the camera while sitting on her dad's lap.
    Emma Kershaw, Peoplemag, 13 June 2023
  • The daughter places the pillow on her mother’s lap and guides her mother’s hand over a large yellow patch.
    Kat McGowan, WIRED, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Table rubbed his right arm, felt beautiful, said her name to his lap.
    Hazlitt, 14 June 2023
  • That was Hoke’s first lap holding the reins after the disastrous three-season run of Chuck Long.
    Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Nov. 2023
  • There's an additional point available for the driver with the fastest lap if that driver is a top-ten finisher.
    Ashlyn Messier, Fox News, 5 May 2024
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lap

2 of 2 verb
  • The audience lapped it up, both in the room and back home.
    Lars Brandle, Billboard, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Both the crowd and the internal Waystar crew lap it up.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 1 May 2023
  • As the waves lapped lightly, the canopy of stars stretched out before me.
    Sarah Souli, Travel + Leisure, 4 June 2023
  • But these tidal forces aren’t supposed to lap the shores of places like New York.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 31 Oct. 2022
  • The frigid sea lapped at the shores of Tee Harbor, about 15 miles northwest of Juneau.
    David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Apr. 2023
  • Both are there to lap up the celebration, as well as to take the stage.
    Nancy Kruh, Peoplemag, 15 Nov. 2023
  • There's a player who has the same look who laps fives with Booker.
    Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 5 Sep. 2023
  • The floodwaters lap against the levee banks and from there stretch miles to the horizon.
    Brennon Dixson, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2023
  • The small waves, cold and gentle, lapped my ankles, then my calves, then my thighs.
    Betsy Blumenthal, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2023
  • The clearest blue waves rolled in and out, crashing onto the sand as the water lapped at my toes.
    Helen Li, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023
  • At high tide, the ocean waves lap up against the dune, which itself is badly eroded.
    By wayne Parry, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024
  • To your left, imagine the East River lapping at your feet.
    Russell Shorto, New York Times, 19 June 2023
  • The sound of lapping waves and the call of seagulls mixed with a steady whirring of the port’s machinery as rain began to fall.
    Rachel Chason and Chloe Sharrock, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Apr. 2023
  • Its gin-clear waters that lap up against white-sand beaches will leave you in awe.
    Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Spring in this beach town brings long, lazy hours on a lounge chair, reading a good book and watching the waves lap onto the sand.
    Rebecca Deurlein, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023
  • They were found hugging each other close as the water lapped around them.
    Patrick Smith, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Now retired, Neville said the building boom and growth have brought more traffic and even changed the way the water used to lap up against the sea wall.
    Anchorage Daily News, 4 July 2021
  • Conner lapped the field as state runner-up Louisville St. Xavier finished with 154 points.
    Alex Harrison, The Enquirer, 16 June 2023
  • In one of its final scenes, Shinji sits quietly on a beach as waves lap against the shore.
    Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2021
  • On the other hand, Saban has lapped the field and is coming back around on first-round picks by SEC coaches.
    Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 14 Apr. 2023
  • Americans in their 20s and 30s nowadays have a lot of spare parental love in their hearts — and their dogs are lapping it up.
    Sam Apple, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Would her unprotected feet leave a faint trail of blood across the dining-room floor for the cat to lap up with its clean, pink tongue?
    Christopher Benfey, The New York Review of Books, 26 Aug. 2020
  • Madonna is lapping up the last days of summer with her children.
    Escher Walcott, Peoplemag, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Video shot from an inflatable boat showed a man in the boat holding on to the side of a house as water lapped the walls just beneath a pitched roof.
    Matthew Mulligan, NBC News, 8 June 2023
  • Once flying free, the spacecraft was meant to lap around the world, ending with a crash-landing in the Pacific near Hawaii.
    Marcia Dunn, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Apr. 2023
  • The crayfish are still walking, the seagulls are flying, the cats are meowing, and the waves are lapping.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Johnson’s fans should lap this one up, along with the duck à l’orange served in the French hospital cafeteria.
    Heller McAlpin, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2021
  • The depleted version may not lap the AL West field as we've been accustomed.
    Michael Shapiro, Chron, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Trump soon expects to lap Biden in fundraising in one regard, however.
    Libby Cathey, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Ripley laps up the healthy salary (especially in the ‘50s) in his latest role — to persuade Dickie (Johnny Flynn) to leave Italy and return home.
    Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lap.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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