lap [OE] Originally a lap was a fold or flap of a garment, which gave rise to lapel in the 17th century. By the Middle Ages it was also the front of a skirt when held up to catch or carry something, and from there the area between the waist and the knees as a place where a child can be nursed or an object held. Since the 1980s erotic dancers or striptease artists have also performed a lap dance while sitting on the laps of—or at least dancing close to—paying customers. In the lap of the gods [E17th] can be traced back to several passages in the works of the Greek epic poet Homer, thought to have been written during the 8th century bc. The idea is that the course of events is determined by the gods, and so is completely outside human control. The phrase probably comes from the image of someone trying to placate or influence a person in authority by placing gifts in their lap as they sit ready to pass judgement. The lap [M19th] of a race comes from extending the sense of a fold to that of a coil or something going round, but to lap [OE] in the sense a cat laps milk is unconnected and comes from a Germanic source.