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Lap vs Circle - What's the difference?

lap | circle |

In transitive terms the difference between lap and circle

is that lap is to overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler while circle is to place or mark a circle around.

In intransitive terms the difference between lap and circle

is that lap is to be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap while circle is to travel in circles.

As nouns the difference between lap and circle

is that lap is the loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron while circle is a two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.

As verbs the difference between lap and circle

is that lap is to enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish while circle is to travel around along a curved path.

lap

English

Etymology 1

Old English '' (skirt or flap of a garment), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
  • An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
  • The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered; figuratively, a place of rearing and fostering; as, to be reared in the lap of luxury.
  • The upper legs of a seated person.
  • The boy was sitting on his mother's lap
  • (archaic, euphemistic) The female pudenda.
  • (construction) component that overlaps or covers any portion of the same or adjacent component.
  • Derived terms
    * lapdance, lap-dance, lap dance * lapdog * lapmark * laptop

    Verb

    (lapp)
  • To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish.
  • * Dryden
  • Her garment spreads, and laps him in the folds.
  • To rest or recline in a lap, or as in a lap.
  • * Praed
  • to lap his head on lady's breast

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , (etyl) dial. vravle'' "to wind", (etyl) ''goluppare "to wrap, fold up" (from (etyl)). More at envelop, develop The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun meaning "a turn around a track" (1861) is from this sense.

    Verb

    (lapp)
  • To fold; to bend and lay over or on something.
  • to lap a piece of cloth
  • to wrap around, enwrap, wrap up
  • to lap a bandage around a finger
  • * Isaac Newton
  • About the paper I lapped several times a slender thread of very black silk.
  • to envelop, enfold
  • lapped in luxury
  • to wind around
  • To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another.
  • One laps roof tiles so that water can run off.
  • To polish, e.g., a surface, until smooth.
  • To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap.
  • The cloth laps''' back; the boats '''lap'''; the edges '''lap .
  • * Grew
  • The upper wings are opacous; at their hinder ends, where they lap over, transparent, like the wing of a fly.
  • To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler.
  • To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc.
  • Derived terms
    * lapper

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act or process of lapping.
  • That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another; as, the lap of a board; also, the measure of such extension over or upon another thing.
  • The amount by which a slide valve at its half stroke overlaps a port in the seat, being equal to the distance the valve must move from its mid stroke position in order to begin to open the port. Used alone, lap refers to outside lap. See Outside lap (below).
  • The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping; as, the second boat got a lap of half its length on the leader.
  • (sports) One circuit around a race track, or one traversal down and then back the length of a pool; as, to run twenty laps; to win by three laps, to swim two laps.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Andrew Benson , title=Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Alonso's second place moves him into a tie on points at the head of the championship with Sebastian Vettel, who was sixth in his Red Bull, passing Button, then Hamilton and finally Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in quick succession in the closing laps .}}
  • In card playing and other games, the points won in excess of the number necessary to complete a game; — so called when they are counted in the score of the following game.
  • A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine.
  • A piece of brass, lead, or other soft metal, used to hold a cutting or polishing powder in cutting glass, gems, and the like, or in polishing cutlery, etc. It is usually in the form of wheel or disk, which revolves on a vertical axis.
  • Derived terms
    * lap of honor/lap of honour

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) lapian'', from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (lapp)
  • (ambitransitive) To take (liquid) into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue.
  • * Shakespeare
  • They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.
  • * Sir K. Digby
  • The dogs by the River Nilus's side, being thirsty, lap hastily as they run along the shore.
  • (of water) To wash against a surface with a splashing sound; to swash.
  • * Tennyson
  • I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, / And the wild water lapping on the crag.
    Derived terms
    * lapper

    circle

    English

    (wikipedia circle)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (lb) A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.
  • :The set of all points (x'', ''y'') such that (x-1)2 + y2 = r2 is a circle of radius ''r around
  • A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance from another point.
  • Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.
  • :
  • A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.
  • :
  • Orbit.
  • A specific group of persons.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened.
  • *
  • *:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle , a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • *
  • *:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"
  • *1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • *:The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles .
  • (lb) A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.
  • (lb) A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.
  • (lb) A traffic circle or roundabout.
  • *2011 , Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom , p.120:
  • *:He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid
  • (lb) Compass; circuit; enclosure.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:in the circle of this forest
  • (lb) An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle''; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a ''meridian'' or ''transit circle''; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a ''reflecting circle''; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a ''repeating circle .
  • A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.
  • (lb) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
  • *(Joseph Glanvill) (1636-1680)
  • *:That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing.
  • Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
  • * (1579-1625)
  • *:Has he given the lie, / In circle , or oblique, or semicircle.
  • A territorial division or district.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (two-dimensional outline geometric figure) coil (not in mathematical use), ring (not in mathematical use), loop (not in mathematical use) * (two-dimensional solid geometric figure) disc/disk (in mathematical and general use), round (not in mathematical use; UK & Commonwealth only ) * (curve) arc, curve * (orbit) orbit * (a specific group of persons) bunch, gang, group

    Derived terms

    * arctic circle

    Verb

    (circl)
  • To travel around along a curved path.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Other planets circle other suns.
  • To surround.
  • * Dampier
  • Their heads are circled with a short turban.
  • * Coleridge
  • So he lies, circled with evil.
  • To place or mark a circle around.
  • Circle the jobs that you are interested in applying for.
  • To travel in circles.
  • Vultures circled overhead.

    Derived terms

    * circle the drain