Definitions for the word "lapse" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. n.
A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. n.
A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. n.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. n.
A fall or apostasy.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. v. i.
To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away; to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly restricted to figurative uses.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. v. i.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. v. i.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. v. i.
To become ineffectual or void; to fall.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. v. t.
To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to pass.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. v. t.
To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or catch, as an offender.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. n.
1 slight error; slip of memory etc. 2 weak or careless decline into an inferior state. 3 (foll. By of) passage of time. v. (-sing) 1 fail to maintain a position or standard. 2 (foll. By into) fall back into an inferior or previous state. 3 (of a right or privilege etc.) Become invalid through disuse, failure to renew, etc. 4 (as lapsed adj.) That has lapsed. [latin lapsus from labor laps- slip]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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