Contextualizebeta

laptop

noun
/ˈlæp.tɒp/UK/ˈlæp.tɑp/US

Etymology

From lap (“upper legs of a seated person”) + top, modeled after desktop.

  1. inherited from *tuppaz✻ — “braid, pigtail, end”
  2. inherited from *topp✻
  3. inherited from topp — “top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”
  4. inherited from top
  5. compounded as laptop — “lap + top”

Definitions

  1. A laptop computer.

    • He was playing a video game on his laptop.
    • Over time, the difference in size between laptops and notebooks became a matter of no more than an inch or two in length and width, and a fraction of an inch in thickness.

  2. Designed for use on a lap.

    • At NCC, however, laptop portables such as the Gavilan were stealing the show, and when Miyashita returned to japan, his list of possible projects included a proposal for a portable computer.
    • Otherwise, the keyboard feel and layout are good for a laptop machine but, as with most portables, I wouldn’t want to use the T1000 to write the entire great American novel—just a chapter or two at a time.
    • Nestled snugly into a cattle-class seat aboard a 737, you drop your tray table and open your laptop PC.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for laptop. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA