belap
/bəˈlæp/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To lap or wrap around (someone or something); to envelop, to surround.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "There was redy in a wode / Two hundurde knyghtys, þat were gode. / Owte of the wode þey came anon / And belapped vs euerychon."
- "For the lytell vertue & strength of that nature the which remayneth / there is as who sayth a lytell sparke of fyre wrapped and hyd in asshes / This is the naturall reason of man belapped with great darkenes / yet hauing dyscrecion of good & yll / of truthe & falsenesse, though it be vnable to fulfyll all that he approueth, nor may nat vse yet the full lyghte of truth / nor his affeccyons helthfully"
- "The wofull pule, with wattir wnluflly, / Withhaldis thaim so at thai may nocht go by; / And Stix, the flude, bylappis thaim about / Nyne tymis, sa close at thai sall neuer wyn out."
- "Ouer this the foresayd laye / Reporte howe the pope may / A holy anker call / Out of the stony wall / And hym a bysshop make / It he on hym dare take / To kepe so harde a rule / To ryde vpon a mule / With golde all betrapped / In purple and paule be lapped"
- "[T]here be many things that pertaine to a Chriſtian man, and yet al thoſe things are conteined in this one thing, that is, loue: be lappeth vp al things in loue."
- "And it may be, if thou knewest not which were perfect meekness, thou wouldst imagine, when thou hadst a little knowledge and feeling of this, that I call imperfect meekenss, that thou hadst almost gotten perfect meekness; and so wouldst deceive thyself, weening that thou wert full meek, when thou wert indeed all belapped in foul stinking pride."
Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi From Middle English bilappen (“to envelop; to clothe; to surround; to blend, mix”), from bi- (completive, intensifying, or figurative prefix) + lappen (“to wrap; to place so as to enclose or enfold; to encase; to envelop; to clothe; to put on armour; to ensnare, snare”). Lappen is derived from lap, lappe (“loose part of a garment; folded or extended skirt, or loose sleeve, used to hold things; small piece of cloth or mail detached from a garment or coat of mail; a part, portion, share; a person’s lap; (also figuratively) a person’s bosom or breast; (anatomy) a loose part of the body (such as an earlobe or a lobe of the liver); female genitalia; cavity or sinus in the body; (in place names) piece of land at the edge of an estate or parish”) (from Old English læppa (“skirt; (anatomy) lobe”), from Proto-Germanic *lappô (“cloth; rag”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang down loosely (?)”)) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). The English word is analysable as be- (prefix meaning ‘about; around’ or ‘completely, utterly’) + lap (“to lap or wrap around, envelop, surround”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bəˈlæp/
- British English: /bɪˈlæp/