Home UK English hap

Main meanings of hap in English

: hap1hap2

hap1

Pronunciation /hap/

noun

mass noun archaic

  • 1Luck; fortune.

    ‘if you have the good hap to come into their houses’
    • ‘And yes, we got ourselves kidnapped by a bunch of off-duty and retired soldiers who were enjoying a Friday beating up hapless journalists (and boy, were we showing no hap at all) far too much.’
    • ‘Notice that in this case we will have a violation of the doctrine of determinism, and indeed determinism might be expressed simply as the thesis that nothing ever occurs by mere hap.’
    • ‘When an event occurs by mere hap, there is an element of randomness in its coming about; it might not have occurred, even if all of the conditions relevant to its production had been the same.’
    1. 1.1count noun A chance occurrence, especially an event that is considered unlucky.
      ‘I entertained the Company with the many Haps and Disasters’
      • ‘Happen gives us take place, arrive, come, recur; hap generates chance, accident, hazard, event.’
      • ‘Whether he makes a lame attempt for a steal or a weak effort at a double-team hap, the result is usually an easy basket for an opponent.’

verbverb haps, verb happing, verb happed

[no object] archaic

  • 1Come about by chance.

    ‘what can hap to him worthy to be deemed evil?’
    • ‘He said: ‘It was, without a doubt, the best thing that happed to the club.’’
    • ‘The weirdest thing happed to me a few days ago.’
    • ‘In the case of the policeman who is suing for being put back on the beat, he described an incident where he happed upon the scene of a road accident and was too scared to go and help.’
    • ‘It happed most often to Jennifer Grey for some reason.’
    • ‘It happed to be that the ‘dove’ was actually a courier, warning him that the feast was to begin in less than an hour.’
    occur, take place, come about, come off, come into being
    1. 1.1with infinitive Have the fortune or luck to do something.
      • ‘where'er I happ'd to roam’

Origin

Middle English from Old Norse happ.

Main meanings of hap in English

: hap1hap2

hap2

Pronunciation /hap/

verbverb haps, verb happing, verb happed

[with object]Scottish, Northern Irish

  • Cover or wrap with a blanket or warm clothes.

    ‘Col rode on her back, happed up in a tartan plaid’
    • ‘my Mum happed me up’
    • ‘Hap up well, young man, his teachers had always tellt him.’
    • ‘I know the forecast is still looking pretty grim, but I am really looking forward to my final day of being happed up on the cathedral steps.’
    • ‘Partygoers have been warned only to leave the house well happed up and with an umbrella.’
    • ‘Andrina, happed in a plaid dressing-gown, shuffled back into the room.’
    • ‘He picked up Flossie and happed her in his coat.’

Origin

Late Middle English of uncertain origin; perhaps an alteration of lap.