A lap is a surface (usually horizontal) created between the knee and hips of a biped when it is in a seated or lying down position. The lap of a parent or loved one is seen as a physically and psychologically comfortable place for a child to sit. [1][2]
If you have something on your lap when you are sitting down, it is on top of your legs and near to your body. She waited quietly with her hands in her lap. Hugh glanced at the child on her mother's lap.
a place, environment, or situation of rest or nurture: the lap of luxury. area of responsibility, care, charge, or control: They dropped the problem right in his lap.
Your lap is the top of your thighs when you sit down, where your cat might sit. Lap can also refer to a trip around a racetrack, or to the act of overtaking a competitor by a lap.
To lie partly on or over something; overlap. 2. To form a lap or fold.