taptæp(v.; n.)tapped, tap•ping

1. (v.t.)to strike with a light but audible blow.

2. to make, put, etc., by tapping:

   to tap a nail into a wall.

3. to strike (the fingers, a foot, a pencil, etc.) upon or against something, esp. with repeated light blows.

4. to add a metal or leather piece to the sole or heel of (a boot or shoe).

   Category: Clothing

5. (v.i.)to strike lightly but audibly.

6. to strike light blows.

7. to tap-dance.

8. (n.)a light but audible blow.

9. the sound made by this.

10. a piece of metal attached to the toe or heel of a shoe.

    Category: Clothing

11. a thickness of leather added to the sole or heel of a boot or shoe, as in repairing.

    Category: Clothing

Origin of tap:

1175–1225; ME tappen, alter. of early ME teppen, prob. imit.

tap′per(n.)

taptæp(n.; v.)tapped, tap•ping.

1. (n.)a cylindrical plug or stopper for closing an opening through which liquid is drawn, as in a cask; spigot.

2. a faucet or cock.

   Category: Building Trades

3. the liquor drawn through a particular tap.

4. a connection made at an intermediate point on an electrical circuit or device.

   Category: Electricity and Magnetism

5. an act or instance of wiretapping.

   Category: Common Vocabulary, Telegraphy and Telephony, Informal

6. the surgical withdrawal of fluid:

   spinal tap.

   Category: Surgery

7. a tool for cutting screw threads into the cylindrical surface of a round opening.

   Category: Building Trades

8. a hole made in tapping, as one in a pipe to furnish connection for a branch pipe.

   Category: Building Trades

9. (v.t.)to draw liquid from (a vessel or container).

10. to draw off (liquid), as by removing a tap or piercing a container.

11. to draw the tap from or pierce (a cask or other container).

12. to draw upon; begin to use:

    to tap one's resources.

13. to connect into secretly so as to receive what is being transmitted: to tap a telephone.

    Category: Telegraphy and Telephony

14. to furnish (a cask, pipe, etc.) with a tap.

    Category: Building Trades

15. to cut a screw thread into the surface of (an opening).

    Category: Building Trades

16. to open outlets from (power lines, highways, pipes, etc.).

    Category: Civil Engineering

17. tap off, to remove (liquid, molten metal, etc.) from a keg, furnace, or the like.

    Category: Verb Phrase, Metallurgy

Idioms for tap:

1. on tap, ready to be drawn and served, as liquor from a cask. furnished with a tap or cock, as a barrel of liquor. ready for immediate use; available.

   Category: Idiom, Informal

Origin of tap:

bef. 1050; (n.) ME tappe, OE tæppa, c. MD, MLG tap, OHG zapho, ON tappi; (v.) ME tappen, OE tæppian

tap′per(n.)