nap
/næp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To have a nap; to sleep for a short period of time, especially during the day.
verb
To be off one's guard.
noun
A short period of sleep, especially one during the day.
noun
The common direction, on some kinds of fabric, of the hairs making up the pile.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The regulators were caught napping by the financial collapse."
- "I took thee napping, unprepared."
- "I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it."
- "On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat."
- "There were low bookshelves, there was a thick pinkish Chinese rug in which a gopher could have spent a week without showing his nose above the nap."
- "THEY CALL IT the "nap of the Earth," that area from the ground to the level of surrounding trees and hills, the thin rug of foliage and rock folds at the Earth's skin line that has become all-important to the United States Army."
Etymology
From Middle English nappen, from Old English hnappian (“to doze, slumber, sleep”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnappōn (“to nap”). Cognate with Old High German hnaffezan, hnaffezzan (whence Middle High German nafzen (“to slumber”) whence German dialectal napfezen, nafzen (“to nod, slumber, nap”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: nappen, hnappian, *hnappōn, nap, noppe, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /næp/
- British English: /næp/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Obsolete