e·lapse (ĭ-lāps') intr.v.
e·lapsed, e·laps·ing, e·laps·es To slip by; pass: Weeks elapsed before we could start renovating. n. Passage; lapse: met again after an elapse of many years.
1644, from M.Fr. elapser, from L. elapsus, pp. of elabi "slip or glide away," from ex- "out, away" + labi "to slip, glide." The noun now corresponding to elapse is lapse.