lap up

lap up (third-person singular simple present laps up, present participle lapping up, simple past and past participle lapped up)

(transitive) To consume by lapping; to drink (something) quickly.
The cat's lapping up the milk in its bowl
(transitive, figurative) To revel in, to overtly enjoy.
You could see she was pleased, she was lapping up the applause.
- 1977, “Peaches”, performed by the Stranglers:
  All this skirt, lappin' up the sun, lap me up
- 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:
  City have lapped up the plaudits this season for a series of handsome wins but manager Roberto Mancini has demanded that his side also learn to grind out results when they do not play well. He now has an example to point to.
- 2024 July 13, Guy Chazan, “Ex-chancellor's imagined career as a sleuth hits Italian TV”, in FT Weekend, page 2:
  Merkel, whose autobiography is out this autumn, has declined to comment publicly on the series. But fellow Germans have lapped it up, with the first series gathering 3mn viewers.

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