Dictionary-Definition.com :: Lapse definition

Definition of 'lapse'

noun

A mistake resulting from inattention [syn: oversight, lapse]

noun

A break or intermission in the occurrence of something; "a lapse of three weeks between letters"

noun

A failure to maintain a higher state [syn: backsliding, lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting]

verb

Pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into nirvana" [syn: sink, pass, lapse]

verb

End, at least for a long time; "The correspondence lapsed"

verb

Drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards [syn: lapse, backslide]

verb

Go back to bad behavior; "Those who recidivate are often minor criminals" [syn: relapse, lapse, recidivate, regress, retrogress, fall back]

verb

Let slip; "He lapsed his membership"

verb

Pass by; "three years elapsed" [syn: elapse, lapse, pass, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, slide by, go along]

From: GCIDE

Lapse \Lapse\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lapsed; p. pr. & vb. n. Lapsing.]
1. To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses. [1913 Webster]
A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
2. To slide or slip in moral conduct; to fail in duty; to fall from virtue; to deviate from rectitude; to commit a fault by inadvertence or mistake. [1913 Webster]
To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. (Law) (a) To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of some one, as a patron, a legatee, etc. (b) To become ineffectual or void; to fall. [1913 Webster]
If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king. --Ayliffe. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Lapse \Lapse\ (l[a^]ps), n. [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus, to slide, to fall: cf. F. laps. See Sleep.]
1. A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses. [1913 Webster]
The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible. --Rambler. [1913 Webster]
Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude. [1913 Webster]
To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us. --Rogers. [1913 Webster]
3. (Law) The termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through failure of some contingency; hence, the devolution of a right or privilege. [1913 Webster]
4. (Theol.) A fall or apostasy. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Lapse \Lapse\, v. t.
1. To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass. [1913 Webster]
An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing the term of law. --Ayliffe. [1913 Webster]
2. To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
For which, if be lapsed in this place, I shall pay dear. --Shak. [1913 Webster]