Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Lapse \Lapse\, n. [L. lapsus, fr. labi, p. p. lapsus, to slide,
   to fall: cf. F. laps. See {Sleep}.]
   1. A gliding, slipping, or gradual falling; an unobserved or
      imperceptible progress or passing away,; -- restricted
      usually to immaterial things, or to figurative uses.

            The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible.
                                                  --Rambler.

            Bacon was content to wait the lapse of long
            centuries for his expected revenue of fame. --I.
                                                  Taylor.

   2. A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight
      deviation from truth or rectitude.

            To guard against those lapses and failings to which
            our infirmities daily expose us.      --Rogers.

   3. (Law) The termination of a right or privilege through
      neglect to exercise it within the limited time, or through
      failure of some contingency; hence, the devolution of a
      right or privilege.

   4. (Theol.) A fall or apostasy.

Lapse \Lapse\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Lapsed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Lapsing}.]
   1. To pass slowly and smoothly downward, backward, or away;
      to slip downward, backward, or away; to glide; -- mostly
      restricted to figurative uses.

            A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those
            northern nations from whom we are descended.
                                                  --Swift.

            Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites,
            has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison.

   2. To slide or slip in moral conduct; to fail in duty; to
      fall from virtue; to deviate from rectitude; to commit a
      fault by inadvertence or mistake.

            To lapse in fullness Is sorer than to lie for need.
                                                  --Shak.

   3. (Law)
      (a) To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, or
          from the original destination, by the omission,
          negligence, or failure of some one, as a patron, a
          legatee, etc.
      (b) To become ineffectual or void; to fall.

                If the archbishop shall not fill it up within
                six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.
                                                  --Ayliffe.

Lapse \Lapse\, v. t.
   1. To let slip; to permit to devolve on another; to allow to
      pass.

            An appeal may be deserted by the appellant's lapsing
            the term of law.                      --Ayliffe.

   2. To surprise in a fault or error; hence, to surprise or
      catch, as an offender. [Obs.]

            For which, if be lapsed in this place, I shall pay
            dear.                                 --Shak.

Source : WordNet®

lapse
     n 1: a mistake resulting from inattention [syn: {oversight}]
     2: a break or intermission in the occurrence of something; "a
        lapse of three weeks between letters"
     3: a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: {backsliding}, {lapsing},
         {relapse}, {relapsing}, {reversion}, {reverting}]
     v 1: pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into
          Nirvana" [syn: {sink}, {pass}]
     2: end, at least for a long time; "The correspondence lapsed"
     3: drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards [syn:
         {backslide}]
     4: go back to bad behavior; "Those who recidivate are often
        minor criminals" [syn: {relapse}, {recidivate}, {regress},
         {retrogress}, {fall back}]
     5: let slip; "He lapsed his membership"
     6: pass by; "three years elapsed" [syn: {elapse}, {pass}, {slip
        by}, {glide by}, {slip away}, {go by}, {slide by}, {go
        along}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

LAPSE
     
        A {single assignment} language for the {Manchester dataflow
        machine}.
     
        ["A Single Assignment Language for Data Flow Computing",
        J.R.W. Glauert, M.Sc Diss, Victoria U Manchester, 1978].
     
        (1994-12-21)