From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lapse \Lapse\ (l[a^]ps), noun [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.
The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible. --Rambler.
Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long centuries for his expected revenue of fame. --I. Taylor.
2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude.
To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us. --Rogers.
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.
4. (Theol.) A fall or apostasy.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lapse \Lapse\, verb (used with an object)
1. To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass.
An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing the term of law. --Ayliffe.
2. To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender. [Obs.]
For which, if be lapsed in this place, I shall pay dear. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lapse \Lapse\, verb (used without an object) [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.
A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended. --Swift.
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison.
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.
To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need. --Shak.
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.
If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king. --Ayliffe.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a mistake resulting from inattention [syn: {oversight}]
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}, {lapsing}, {relapse}, {relapsing}, {reversion}, {reverting}]
verb
1: pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into Nirvana" [syn: {sink}, {pass}]
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: {backslide}]
4: go back to bad behavior; "Those who recidivate are often minor criminals" [syn: {relapse}, {recidivate}, {regress}, {retrogress}, {fall back}]
5: let slip; "He lapsed his membership"
6: pass by; "three years elapsed" [syn: {elapse}, {pass}, {slip by}, {glide by}, {slip away}, {go by}, {slide by}, {go along}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
427 Moby Thesaurus words for "lapse": abeyance, about-face, advance, alchemy, apostasy, apostatize, assimilation, assumption, atavism, atheism, atrocity, backing, backset, backslide, backsliding, backward deviation, backward motion, backward step, balk, be all over, be caught napping, be gone, be neglectful, be negligent, be no more, be past, become extinct, become void, becoming, bevue, blooper, blow over, blunder, boner, breach, break, bull, bungle, cadence, caesura, catabasis, catenary, cave, cave in, cease, cease-fire, cessation, change, change-over, close, closing, cock, collapse, comedown, continue, conversion, crash, crime, crime against humanity, culpa, culpable negligence, day off, deadly sin, debasement, decadence, decadency, deceleration, declension, declination, decline, decline and fall, decrescendo, decurrence, default, deformation, degeneracy, degenerate, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, delinquency, demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, dereliction, derogation, descend, descent, desertion, deteriorate, deterioration, deviate, devolution, die, die away, diminish, diminuendo, diminution, disappear, disenchantment, disregard, dive, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, droop, drop, dwindling, dying, ebb, effeteness, elapse, end, endure, enormity, err, error, evil, expire, fade, fading, fail, failing, failure, failure of nerve, fall, fall again into, fall astern, fall away, fall back, fall behind, fall from grace, fall into error, fall off, falling back, falling-off, false move, false step, fault, felony, flip-flop, flit, flop, flop down, flow, flow on, fluff, flump, flump down, fly, foible, founder, frailty, gap, genocide, get behind, give way, glide, gloss over, go amiss, go astray, go awry, go backwards, go behind, go by, go down, go downhill, go off, go on, go out, go wrong, goof, growth, guilty act, have a relapse, have it, have its time, have run out, heavy sin, hesitation, hiatus, hit a slump, hit rock bottom, hit the skids, hold-up, holiday, homestretch, ignore, impiety, impiousness, impropriety, inadvertence, inadvertency, inattention, indiscretion, inexpiable sin, iniquity, injury, injustice, interim, interlude, intermezzo, intermission, intermittence, interruption, interval, involution, irreligion, irreverence, jerk back, laches, lacuna, laissez-faire, lapse back, lapse from grace, lapsus calami, lapsus linguae, last, last lap, last round, last stage, laxity, laxness, layoff, let go, let ride, let slide, let slip, letup, loose thread, looseness, lose ground, lose sight of, lose track of, loss of tone, lower, lowering, lull, malefaction, malfeasance, malum, minor wrong, miscalculate, miscue, misdeed, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misstep, mistake, mortal sin, naturalization, neglect, neglectfulness, negligence, nod, nonfeasance, noninterference, nonperformance, nonrestriction, not care for, not get involved, not heed, not think, offense, omission, outrage, overlook, overlooking, oversight, pass, pass away, pass by, pass over, passage, pause, peccadillo, peccancy, permissiveness, plop, plop down, plump, plunge, poor stewardship, press on, proceed, procrastination, progress, pull back, re-formation, reach the depths, reaction, recede, recess, recession, recidivate, recidivation, recidivism, reclamation, reconversion, recreancy, recrudescence, recur to, recurrence, reduction, reentry, refluence, reflux, regress, regression, rehabilitation, reinstatement, relapse, remission, remissness, renewal, resolution, respite, rest, restitution, restoration, retreat, retroaction, retrocede, retrocession, retroflex, retroflexion, retrogradation, retrograde, retrogress, retrogression, retroversion, retrovert, retrusion, return, return to, returning, reversal, reverse, reversion, revert, revert to, reverting, revulsion, roll on, rollback, run, run down, run its course, run on, run out, sag, set, setback, settle, settle down, shift, shortcoming, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, sink, sink back, sink down, sinkage, slackness, sleep, slide, slide back, slight, slip, slip away, slip back, slip up, slippage, slipping back, slipup, slouch, slowdown, slump, slump down, stand-down, stay, sternway, stop, stray, stumble, submerge, submergence, subside, subsidence, suspension, swag, switch, switch-over, take for granted, terminate, throwback, tort, touch bottom, transformation, transgression, transit, transition, trespass, trip, truce, turn, turnabout, turning into, undutifulness, unrigorousness, unutterable sin, vacation, venial sin, vice, violation, volte-face, wander, wane, wear away, wear off, wrong, wrong step, yield again to
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
LAPSE 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)
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