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elapse

 - 3 dictionary results

e⋅lapse

  [i-laps] verb, e⋅lapsed, e⋅laps⋅ing, noun
Use elapse in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. (of time) to slip or pass by: Thirty minutes elapsed before the performance began.
–noun
2. the passage or termination of a period of time; lapse.
Origin:
1635–45; < L ēlapsus (ptp. of ēlābī to slip away), equiv. to e- e- + lab- slip + -sus for -tus ptp. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To elapse
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.

[Latin ēlābī, ēlāps- : ē-, ex-, ex- + lābī, to slip.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

elapse 
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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