nap, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nap n.¹

[lit. and fig. uses of nap v.¹]

1. a dose of venereal disease; in cite c.1673, one who has it.

1673		‘Letter from a Missionary Bawd’ in Carpenter Verse in English from Tudor & Stuart Eng. (2003) 427: Them [i.e. two women] once, for charity I thought to take, / But seeming rusty Napps, I turn’d them back.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Nap [...] a Clap, or Pox.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

2. an instance of cheating while playing dice.

c.1698

B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Nap, c. Nap, by Cheating with the Dice to secure one Chance.

3. (orig. theatre) a blow or hit, esp. a pretend hit.

1861

(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 129/1: I give him the ‘nap,’ and knock him on his back.

nap (it) (v.)

to catch venereal disease.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: You have Napt it, you are Clapt, Sir.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Nap [...] to catch the venereal disease; you’ve napt it; you are infected.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].