Word.ws English Dictionary

lap dogs

lap dogs is the plural of lap dog.

Meaning of lap dog

Noun

lap dog (plural lap dogs)

  1. A small toy dog, kept as household pet, whose light weight and companionable temperament make it both suited and disposed to spend time resting in the comfort of its master's lap; a dog bred to behave in this manner.
    • A lady loses her muff, her fan, or her lap-dog, and so the silly poet runs home to versify the disaster.1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], chapter XVII, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC
  2. (figuratively) A person who behaves in a servile manner, such as a sycophantic employee or a fawning lover.
    • As a lady's lap-dog Leonard did not excel. He was not an Italian, still less a Frenchman.1908–1910 (date written; published 1910 October 18), E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 16, in Howards End, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC

Questions about lap dogs

What is lap dogs the plural of?
Lap dogs is the plural of lap dog.

Words near lap dogs in the dictionary

  1. lap desk
  2. lap desks
  3. lap dissolve
  4. lap dissolves
  5. lap dog
  6. lap dogs
  7. lap dulcimer
  8. lap dulcimers
  9. lap joint
  10. lap joints
  11. lap of honor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lap dogs (page history and authors); lap dog (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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