From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
[1913 Webster]
A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those
northern nations from whom we are descended.
--Swift.
[1913 Webster]
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites,
has lapsed into the burlesque character. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
To lapse in fullness
Is sorer than to lie for need. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
If the archbishop shall not fill it up within
six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.
--Ayliffe.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
lapsing
n 1: a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: {backsliding},
{lapse}, {lapsing}, {relapse}, {relapsing}, {reversion},
{reverting}]
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