Meanings
plural prelaps · alternative pre-lap
- countableuncountablebroadcastingA film editing technique in which the dialogue from the next scene precedes the cut, and the beginning of the dialogue is heard in the outgoing scene.
1 more example
Some aspects of the editing were groundbreaking: In his book “Film Editing: History, Theory and Practice” (2001), Don Fairservice pointed out that “Stagecoach” contained one of the earliest uses — maybe even the first — of the now-commonplace technique called a prelap, in which as one scene ends, dialogue from the next is already beginning on the soundtrack.
2022 October 29, Gavin Edwards, “Overlooked No More: Dorothy Spencer, Film Editor Sought Out by Big Directors”, in The New York Times
Origin
From pre- + lap. Compare overlap.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
prelap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelap
“prelap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelap. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prelap,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelap.
Source: prelap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.