Lapse word meaning and definition

[noun] a failure to maintain a higher state
[noun] a mistake resulting from inattention
[noun] a break or intermission in the occurrence of something; "a lapse of three weeks between letters"
[verb] go back to bad behavior; "Those who recidivate are often minor criminals"
[verb] drop to a lower level; as in one's morals or standards
[verb] end, at least for a long time; "The correspondence lapsed"
[verb] pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into Nirvana"
[verb] pass by, as of time
[verb] let slip; "He lapsed his membership"

\Lapse\, 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. 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.
\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. 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.
\Lapse\, v. t. 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.

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