- Lapsed
- Lapse Lapse, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Lapsed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Lapsing}.]
1. To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away;
to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly
restricted to figurative uses.
[1913 Webster]
A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
2. To slide or slip in moral conduct; to fail in duty; to fall from virtue; to deviate from rectitude; to commit a fault by inadvertence or mistake. [1913 Webster]
To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. (Law) (a) To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or from the original destination, by the omission, negligence, or failure of some one, as a patron, a legatee, etc. (b) To become ineffectual or void; to fall. [1913 Webster]
If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king. --Ayliffe. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
