Dictionaries › English

tap

Pronunciation: /tæp/

The English word “tap” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
  2. An object with a tapering conical form like a tap (etymology 1, noun sense 1); specifically, ellipsis of taproot (“long, tapering root of a plant”).
  3. A hollow device used to control the flow of a fluid, such as an alcoholic beverage from a cask, or a gas or liquid in a pipe.
  4. A procedure that removes fluid from a body cavity; paracentesis.
  5. Liquor drawn through a tap (etymology 1, noun sense 2.2); hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; also (figurative, informal), a certain kind or quality of any thing.
  6. A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications.
  7. A secret interception of telephone calls or other communications using such a device; also, a recording of such a communication.
  8. A situation where a borrowing government authority issues bonds over a period of time, usually at a fixed price, with volumes sold on a particular day dependent on market conditions.
  9. A cylindrical tool used to cut an internal screw thread in a hole, with cutting edges around the lower end and an upper end to which a handle is fitted to turn the tool.
  10. A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it; a tapping.

verb

  1. To furnish (a container, etc.) with a tap (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) so that liquid can be drawn.
  2. To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source).
  3. To drain off fluid from (a person or a body cavity) by paracentesis.
  4. To break into or open up (a thing) so as to obtain something; to exploit, to penetrate; tap into.
  5. To deplete (something); to tap out.
  6. To ask or beg for (something) to be given for free; to cadge, to scrounge; also, to ask or beg (someone) to give something for free.
  7. To connect a listening and/or recording device to (a communication cable or device) in order to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications; also, to secretly listen in on and/or record (a telephone call or other communication).
  8. To turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round.
  9. To force (an opponent) to place all their poker chips in the pot (that is, to go all in) by wagering all of one's own chips.
  10. To remove a taproot from (a plant).

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tapa.…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “tap” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.