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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.

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.”