nap

verb

1. To have a nap; to sleep for a short period of time, especially during the day.
2. (figuratively)To be off one's guard.

   “The regulators were caught napping by the financial collapse.”

   “I took thee napping, unprepared.”

3. To form or raise a soft or fuzzy surface on (fabric or leather).
4. (obsolete)To grab; to nab.
5. To cover (something) with a sauce. (usually in the passive)

   “Vanilla ice cream topped with a poached or canned pear half, napped with chocolate sauce, and garnished with toasted sliced almonds.”

noun

1. A short period of sleep, especially one during the day.
2. (countable, uncountable)A soft or fuzzy surface, generally on fabric or leather.

   “I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.”

   “On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.”

   “There were low bookshelves, there was a thick pinkish Chinese rug in which a gopher could have spent a week without showing his nose above the nap.”

   “THEY CALL IT the "nap of the Earth," that area from the ground to the level of surrounding trees and hills, the thin rug of foliage and rock folds at the Earth's skin line that has become all-important to the United States Army.”

   “If incorporated in automatic guidance, this practical pursuit adjustment will enhance pilot acceptance of automatic guidance in following nap-of-the-earth profiles with precision.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The common direction, on some kinds of fabric, of the hairs making up the pile.

   “If the fabric has a nap, make sure all pieces are cut with the nap going the same direction.”

   “Instead of grinding the pistons straight around the axis, they are ground diagonally with a special-built machine. As a result, the “nap” of the metal is turned in such a way that, when it meets the “nap” of the cylinder wall, both surfaces quickly develop a high finish which removes the danger of scoring a piston.”

4. (British, countable, uncountable)A type of bet in British horse racing, based on the experts' best tips.

   “4. Races run on English, Welsh or Scottish racecourses. This criterion was included so that media tipsters ^([sic]) nap selections in general could be analysed; the source of naps, The Racing Rag 'tipster table', summarises the nap selections of newspaper tipsters, who restrict their selection to horses running at racecourses in these countries.”

5. (uncountable)A card game in which players take tricks; properly Napoleon.
6. (countable, uncountable)A bid to take five tricks in the card game Napoleon.
7. (Northern-England, Scotland)A cup, bowl.
8. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of non-aggression principle.
9. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of non-aggression pact.