Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721, 1790-1960
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LAIP, v., n. Also lape, laep, leap, lep(p). [lep, I.Sc. lɛp]
I. v. To take up (liquid) with the tongue, to lap (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., lepp; Abd. 1902 E.D.D., laep; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Ork. 1929 Marw.; I.Sc., Ags., m.Lth. 1960). Also fig.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 210:
Take up my Ladle fill and lape.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 108:
We've rum and brandy here to lape.Slk. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 177:
And he baitit the lyon to diedis of weir, Quhill he lepit the blude to the kyngdome deire.Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 210:
The red low, laipin' up a' green thing.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 107:
Gin I wad lep o' thee cauld keil.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 11:
The cuill, silver Teiot, where it laippeet bye leafy Monteviot.
II. n. 1. The act of lapping, of the tongue, waves, etc.; a mouthful of liquid taken up with the tongue, a lap, a small amount of liquid food (Ags., m.Lth. 1960). Adj. laipie, in laipie plate, a small shallow plate (Ork. 1960).Abd. 1824 G. Smith Douglas 48:
His bed the yird, his drink just as it ran, A lape o' water in the heel o's han'.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 483:
To see gin I could get a leap or twa o' sowens.s.Sc. 1833 Border Mag. II. 236:
What a hungry lape it [sea] has a' alang the bottom o' the bit toon whar they get the haddies.Abd. 1881 W. Paul Past and Present 158:
An' a lick oot o' that wife's puock, An' a lick o' the mutur, an' a laep o' the dam.Abd. 1898 Weekly Free Press (29 Oct.):
In some districts a certain sound given by the sea, when a storm is brooding, is known as the "deid lapp o' the sea", and is believed to foretell disaster.Kcb.4 1900:
A laep o' porridge is a small quantity taken out of a bowl.
2. A slight or perfunctory wash, a swill (Kcd., m.Lth. 1960).Ags. 1910:
Gie yer face a bit lape.
3. A pool or sheet of water, a place where water lies collected, a plash (Lth. 1808 Jam.). Also in dim. form lappie (Ags. Ib.).Per. 1838 W. Scrope Deer-stalking 155:
You would not have known that this thing had been, but for the small pools, or lappies, as they are called, which now glittered in the sun.Ags.19 1960:
A street in Forfar is always called locally "Lappie-dub."
