The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lhasa \Lhasa\ n. The capital city of Tibet; it is the sacred city of Lamaism.
Syn: Lassa, Lasa, capital of Tibet.
2. A breed of terrier having a long heavy coat raised in Tibet as watchdogs; also called Lhasa apso.
Syn: Lhasa apso.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
type of dog, 1935, from Tibetan, literally "Lhasa terrier," from Lhasa, capital of Tibet.
Wikipedia
The Lhasa Apso ( ) is a non-sporting dog breed originating in Tibet. It was bred as an interior sentinel in the Buddhist monasteries, to alert the monks to any intruders who entered. Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, and apso is a word in the Tibetan language meaning "bearded", so, Lhasa Apso simply means "long-haired Lhasa dog". There are, however, some who claim that the word "apso" is a form of the Tibetan word "rapso", meaning "goat-like", which would make the equivalent translation "wooly Lhasa dog".
Usage examples of "lhasa apso".
There were small dogs like sharp-faced corgis and brown-and-black silky terriers and a Lhasa apso with long golden hair.
Israel Edel gave me a rubber ice-cream cone with a squeaker in it - a plaything for my little dog, who is a female Lhasa apso, a golden dust-mop without a handle.
Elizabeth gave Brenna's doubled braid a tweak on her way by with a sullen-looking Lhasa Apso.
That was an old girlfriend I went to school with, she bought a snaggletoothed little Lhasa apso and has to hide the Nembutal in the pâ.
She's reputed to have shot an unlucky mugger, two looters, a discourteous doorman, and a Lhasa apso with carnal intentions regarding her Pom.
The little creature looked a low-slung white dog or mophead, some kind of crypto-Lhasa apso with a sheepdog forelock, until one noticed the knob-ended horns and feet something like untoasted muffins.
For protection, Frieda would have been better off with a Lhasa apso, she thought sourly.
AVOIDING THE LONG LENGTHS of open grassy aisles across which the ranks of vehicles face one another, the dog leads the boy between a motor home and a pickup with a camper shell, runs across an aisle, between two other motor homes, kicking up plumes of dust and bits of dead dry grass, thus in and around the wheel of campsites, through the area of brightly colored tents, eventually back among mechanized campers, dodging grownups and kids and a barbecue and a sunbathing woman in a lounger and a terrified Lhasa apso that squeals away from them.
THE LONG LENGTHS of open grassy aisles across which the ranks of vehicles face one another, the dog leads the boy between a motor home and a pickup with a camper shell, runs across an aisle, between two other motor homes, kicking up plumes of dust and bits of dead dry grass, thus in and around the wheel of campsites, through the area of brightly colored tents, eventually back among mechanized campers, dodging grownups and kids and a barbecue and a sunbathing woman in a lounger and a terrified Lhasa apso that squeals away from them.
Robbie Delray, the guy I told you about, says he saw his first one over five years ago, walking a Lhasa Apso on Boston Common.