curb vs lap

curb

verb
  • To bend or curve. 

  • To rein in. 

  • To furnish with a curb, as a well; to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth. 

  • To crouch; to cringe. 

  • To damage vehicle wheels or tires by running into or over a pavement curb. 

  • To check, restrain or control. 

  • To bring to a stop beside a curb. 

noun
  • Something that checks or restrains; a restraint. 

  • A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness. 

  • A concrete margin along the edge of a road; a kerb (UK, Australia, New Zealand) 

  • A riding or driving bit for a horse that has rein action which amplifies the pressure in the mouth by leverage advantage placing pressure on the poll via the crown piece of the bridle and chin groove via a curb chain. 

  • A sidewalk, covered or partially enclosed, bordering the airport terminal road system with adjacent paved areas to permit vehicles to off-load or load passengers. 

  • A raised margin along the edge of something, such as a well or the eye of a dome, as a strengthening. 

lap

verb
  • To fold; to bend and lay over or on something. 

  • to envelop, enfold 

  • To enfold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish. 

  • to wind around 

  • To be turned or folded; to lie partly on or over something; to overlap. 

  • To polish, e.g., a surface, until smooth. 

  • To cut or polish with a lap, as glass, gems, cutlery, etc. 

  • To take (liquid) into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up with a quick motion of the tongue. 

  • To overtake a straggler in a race by completing one more whole lap than the straggler. 

  • To wash against a surface with a splashing sound; to swash. 

  • To rest or recline in a lap, or as in a lap. 

  • to wrap around, enwrap, wrap up 

  • To place or lay (one thing) so as to overlap another. 

noun
  • A piece of brass, lead, or other soft metal, used to hold a cutting or polishing powder in cutting glass, gems, etc. or in polishing cutlery, etc. It is usually in the form of a wheel or disk that revolves on a vertical axis. 

  • The state or condition of being in part extended over or by the side of something else; or the extent of the overlapping. 

  • The amount by which a slide valve at its half stroke overlaps a port in the seat, being equal to the distance the valve must move from its mid stroke position in order to begin to open the port. Used alone, lap refers to outside lap (see below). 

  • The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron. 

  • The traversal of one length of the pool, or (less commonly) one length and back again. 

  • In card playing and other games, the points won in excess of the number necessary to complete a game;—so called when they are counted in the score of the following game. 

  • One circuit around a race track. 

  • An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth. 

  • A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component. 

  • That part of any substance or fixture which extends over, or lies upon, or by the side of, a part of another. 

  • The taking of liquid into the mouth with the tongue. 

  • A sheet, layer, or bat, of cotton fiber prepared for the carding machine. 

  • The act or process of lapping. 

  • The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered. 

  • a place of rearing and fostering 

  • The upper legs of a seated person. 

How often have the words curb and lap occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )