From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Lapse \Lapse\, v. t.
1. To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to
pass.
[1913 Webster]
An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing
the term of law. --Ayliffe.
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2. To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or
catch, as an offender. [Obs.]
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For which, if be lapsed in this place,
I shall pay dear. --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites,
has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison.
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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.
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To lapse in fullness
Is sorer than to lie for need. --Shak.
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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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Lapse \Lapse\ (l[a^]ps), n. [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus,
to slide, to fall: cf. F. laps. See Sleep.]
1. A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or
imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted
usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses.
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The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.
--Rambler.
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Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long
centuries for his expected revenue of fame. --I.
Taylor.
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2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight
deviation from truth or rectitude.
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To guard against those lapses and failings to which
our infirmities daily expose us. --Rogers.
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3. (Law) The termination of a right or privilege through
neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through
failure of some contingency; hence, the devolution of a
right or privilege.
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4. (Theol.) A fall or apostasy.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
lapse
n 1: a mistake resulting from inattention [syn: oversight,
lapse]
2: a break or intermission in the occurrence of something; "a
lapse of three weeks between letters"
3: a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: backsliding,
lapse, lapsing, relapse, relapsing, reversion,
reverting]
v 1: pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into
nirvana" [syn: sink, pass, lapse]
2: end, at least for a long time; "The correspondence lapsed"
3: drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards [syn:
lapse, backslide]
4: go back to bad behavior; "Those who recidivate are often
minor criminals" [syn: relapse, lapse, recidivate,
regress, retrogress, fall back]
5: let slip; "He lapsed his membership"
6: pass by; "three years elapsed" [syn: elapse, lapse,
pass, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, {slide
by}, go along]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
LAPSE
<language> A single assignment language for the {Manchester
dataflow machine}.
["A Single Assignment Language for Data Flow Computing",
J.R.W. Glauert, M.Sc Diss, Victoria U Manchester, 1978].
(1994-12-21)