Definition

1. Verb:
   • To consume a liquid by licking it up with the tongue: The primary meaning describes the action of an animal drinking by using its tongue to lift liquid into its mouth.
   • To accept or receive something eagerly and uncritically: A figurative meaning describing the enthusiastic and often unquestioning acceptance of information, praise, or experiences.

Usage and Examples

• Literal Usage (Consuming Liquid):

  • The dog lapped up the water from its bowl after the long walk.
  • We watched the kitten lap up the spilled milk.

• Figurative Usage (Eager Acceptance):

  • The audience lapped up every word of the speaker's inspiring story.
  • He laps up compliments from his colleagues.
  • Tourists lap up the local culture during the festival.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• The figurative use often implies a sense of gullibility or a lack of critical judgment on the part of the recipient. It can be used in both positive and slightly negative contexts.

  • Positive: The children lapped up the fairy tale. (They listened with rapt, eager attention.)
  • Slightly Negative: The public lapped up the politician's simplistic promises. (They accepted them too easily without scrutiny.)

• The phrasal verb is separable. The object (the thing being consumed or accepted) can be placed between "lap" and "up" or after "up."

  • She laps praise up. / She laps up praise.

Variants and Related Words

• Lap (verb): The base verb, meaning to drink by licking. It is less common than the phrasal verb "lap up."
  • The cat lapped the cream.
• Lick up (phrasal verb): A close synonym for the literal meaning.
  • The cat licked up the spilled milk.

Synonyms

• Literal: Drink up, lick up, slurp.
• Figurative: Devour, soak up, swallow (uncritically), revel in, bask in.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Eat up: Can be used figuratively in a very similar way to mean "to accept eagerly."
  • She eats up all the gossip she hears.
• Soak up: To absorb liquid, or figuratively, to absorb information or an experience eagerly.
  • He soaked up the sun on the beach. (Literal)
  • She soaked up every detail of the lecture. (Figurative)

Related Idioms

• Drink it in: To absorb or appreciate something fully and eagerly with the senses.
  • She stood on the cliff, drinking in the magnificent view.
• Hang on someone's every word: To listen to someone with total attention and eagerness. This is a stronger, more specific idiom for the figurative use of "lap up."
  • The students hung on the professor's every word.

Verb

1. take up with the tongue
   • The cat lapped up the milk
   • the cub licked the milk from its mother's breast