# taper
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈteɪpə/
* (US) IPA: /ˈteɪpɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
* Homophone: tapir

### Etymology 1

From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”). If so, it is a doublet of papyrus. Alternatively, of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid.

#### Noun

taper (plural tapers)
* A slender wax candle.
** c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311, line 157:Strike on the Tinder, hoa: / Giue me a Taper: […]
** 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 376, column 2:Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning:
** 1813 August 13, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson:He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
** 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 160:The red glare of the tapers flung a strange unnatural hue on the painted windows of the little Gothic chapel, where none slept save the noble of name, and the high of blood—purple and crimson, the colours mingled together in fantastic combinations, till the rainbow-hued figures seemed to move with supernatural life.
** 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Change:Love used to carry a bow, you know, But now he carries a taper; It is either a length of wax aglow, Or a twist of lighted paper.
* (by extension) A small light.
* A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object.
    Hyponym: conicality
    the taper of a spire
    The legs of the table had a slight taper to them.
** 2005, Michael Ellis, Apollo Rises, page 15:Her hair hangs over her ears and flows to a taper at the back of her neck where it is held in place with a wide and circular black clasp.
* The portion of an object with such a form.
    ensuring the cleanliness of the taper of a machine tool spindle or of a tool shank
* A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
* A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
* Gradual reduction over time.
    a drug taper

##### Derived terms

* hag-taper
* high taper
* Luer taper
* taper candle
* taper fade
* taper pin
* taperwise
* time-taper

##### Translations
#### Verb

taper (third-person singular simple present tapers, present participle tapering, simple past and past participle tapered)
* (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
** 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:Though true cylinders without — within, the villainous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
* (intransitive) To become thinner or narrower at one end.
* (ambitransitive) To diminish gradually.
** 2022 February 11, Anders Sørensen, Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, Klaus Munkholm, “Clinical practice guideline recommendations on tapering and discontinuing antidepressants for depression: a systematic review”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology‎, volume 12, →DOI:Current major clinical practice guidelines provide little support for clinicians wishing to help patients discontinue or taper antidepressants in terms of mitigating and managing withdrawal symptoms.
* (intransitive) (of a central bank) To tighten monetary policy.

##### Synonyms

* narrow

##### Derived terms

* taper off

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Adjective

taper
* Tapered; narrowing to a point.

### Etymology 2

From tape +‎ -er.

#### Noun

taper (plural tapers)
* (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
* Someone who works with tape or tapes.

##### Translations
### Anagrams

* Peart, Petra, apert, apter, parte, pater, peart, petar, petra, prate, preta, reapt, repat, retap, trape, treap

## Danish
### Verb

taper
* present of tape

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle French taper, from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”) or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to tap, rap, strike”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dab- (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰebʰ- (“to beat, strike, stun, be speechless”). Related to German tappen (“to grope, fumble”), Dutch deppen (“to dab”), Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”). Related to dab.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ta.pe/
* Audio (Paris):(file)
* Rhymes: -e
* Homophones: tapai, tapé, tapée, tapées, tapés, tapez

### Verb

taper
* (transitive) to slap, knock, beat
* (transitive) to type (use a keyboard or typewriter)
* (intransitive) to hit, to beat, to rap [with sur]
* (intransitive) to beat down (of the sun); to go to one's head (of wine etc.)
* (intransitive, slang) to stink, pong, reek
* (reflexive, slang) to put away (a meal etc.)
    Je me suis tapé un bon petit hamburger hier soir.I put away a good, tiny hamburger last night.
* (reflexive, vulgar, slang) to fuck (have sex)
    Il s’est tapé la fille de son patron.He fucked his boss' daughter.
* (reflexive) to put up with
    J’ai dû me taper trois heures d’embouteillage pour rejoindre l’aéroport.I had to put up with three hours of traffic jam to get to the airport.

#### Derived terms

* se taper des barres
* se taper la cloche
* se taper un rassis
* tapable
* tape-à-l’œil
* taper dans l’œil
* taper du poing sur la table
* taper la causette
* taper la discute
* taper l’incruste
* taper sur le système
* taper sur les nerfs
* tapeur
* tapeuse
* tapure

#### See also

* frapper
* cogner

### Further reading

* “taper”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
* “taper” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.

### Anagrams

* parte, pâtre, prêta, tarpé

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English taper, from Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈtapər/ [ˈt̪a.pər]
* Rhymes: -apər
* Syllabification: ta‧per

### Noun

tapêr (plural taper-taper)
* (road transport) taper, a tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object
* (pharmacology) taper; gradual reduction over time
    Synonym: pengurangan

### Further reading

* “taper” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* tapre, tapyr, tapir, tapor, tapour, tapur, tapper

### Etymology

From Old English tapor, possibly from Latin papȳrus (if so, a doublet of papirus).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaːpər/

### Noun

taper (plural tapres)
* taper (thin candle)

#### Descendants

* English: taper

#### References

* “tāper, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Norman
### Pronunciation

* Audio (Jersey):(file)

### Verb

taper (gerund tap'thie)
* (Jersey, onomatopoeia) to hit, knock

#### Derived terms

* taper raide (“to hit hard”)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology 1

From tape (“to lose”) +‎ -er.

#### Noun

taper m (definite singular taperen, indefinite plural tapere, definite plural taperne)
* a loser

##### Related terms

* tapar (Nynorsk)

#### Verb

taper
* present tense of tape (“to lose”)

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

taper m
* indefinite plural of tape

#### Verb

taper
* present tense of tape (“to tape”)

### References

* “taper” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “taper” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

### Anagrams

* paret, parte, pater, patre, Petra, prate, rapet, rapte

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Verb

taper
* present of tape (to lose)

## Walloon
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ta.pe/

### Verb

taper
* to throw