victory lap

English

WOTD – 21 August 2016

Runners at the Women's Marathon during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London: (left to right) Gladys Tejeda (Peru), Rasa Drazdauskaitė (Lithuania), Nastassia Staravoitava (Belarus), Sviatlana Kouhan (Belarus), and Ümmü Kiraz (Turkey)

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪkt(ə)ɹi læp/
Audio (AU) (file)
Hyphenation: vic‧to‧ry lap

Noun

victory lap (plural victory laps)

(sports) A celebratory extra lap of the race track taken after the conclusion of a race.
(Canada, US, education, slang) One or more years of study beyond the traditional four taken to complete one's undergraduate degree.
- 2013 February 25, Vivien Chang, “The myth of the four-year degree”, in Maclean's:
  It’s not just finances that lead to victory laps. Those who study abroad during undergraduate may find it difficult to earn enough credits to fulfill degree requirements in four years.
- 2017 April 1, Peter Lenz, “The Clock Tower: The History, The Myths, and More”, in The Racquet:
  McNaughton continues, “I took a stroll underneath it before freshman year and I am going to be taking a victory lap.”
(Canada, chiefly Ontario, education, slang) One or more additional years of study in high school.
- 2010 November 18, Patrick Brady; Philip Allingham, “Pathways to University: The ‘Victory Lap’ Phenomenon in Ontario”, in Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, number 113:
  An examination of the data generated by the survey instrument revealed the existence of a definitive gender disparity between the two groups in that 47.8% (22 of 46) of male respondents reported having taken a victory lap compared to 20.2% (21 of 104) of their female counterparts.
- 2012 April 9, Teri Pecoskie, “A cap on the victory lap”, in Hamilton Spectator:
  Each year as many as 20,000 students head back for a so-called victory lap in Ontario's classrooms, which prompted the province to implement a 34-credit cap in a bid to save up to $22 million annually.

Synonyms

(sports): lap of honor, lap of honour

Translations

extra lap