tap
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /tæp/
ipa: [tʰæp]
ipa: /tɐːp/
rhymes: -æp
Forms: form: taps
form: tapping
form: tapped
form: tapped
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: tap
form: tap
form: tapped
form: tap
form: tappest
form: tapped
form: tappedst
form: taps
form: tappeth
form: tapped
form: tap
form: tapped
form: tap
form: tapped
form: tap
form: -
form: tapping
form: tapped
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.
The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obtain (liquid) from a tap”), and then either:
* from Old English tæppa (see above) + -ian (suffix forming verbs); or
* from Proto-Germanic *tappōną, from *tappô (noun) (see above).
Verb sense 1.3.5 (“to turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round”) alludes to the abilities or resources of the card or piece having been drawn on to the point of temporary exhaustion: see verb sense 1.3.2.
Senses: glosses: To furnish (a container, etc.) with a tap (noun sense 2.2) so that liquid can be drawn.
examples: text: He tapped the ten-year-old whiskey from its barrel.
text: If we tap the maple trees, we can get maple syrup.
text: Theſe Buſſards thinke knowledge a burthen, tapping it before they haue halfe tunde it, venting it before they haue filled it, […]
ref: 1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […], →OCLC, signature [Biv], verso:
text: Come up, my good fellows, come to the Spotted Dog; I will tap a barrel on purpose for you; […]
ref: 1832, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XI, in Eugene Aram. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book III, page 93:
text: Perhaps, sir, he kicked a county member, perhaps sir he tapped a lord—you may stare, sir, I repeat it—blood flowed from noses, and perhaps he tapped a lord. Who knows?
ref: 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 51.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 231:
text: Behold, unhappy tippler, this curious machine; […] reflect, while it is yet time, what infinite torture will this instrument in the surgeon's hand inflict upon thee, and that thou, who tappest so many barrels, shall at last be thyself a tapped barrel; […]
ref: 1844, J[ohn] Fisher Murray, “The Physiology of London Life. Chapter V. Little Bell Alley.”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XV, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 148:
text: Landowners and forest rangers in Maine are facing a surprising problem: thieves have been illegally tapping maple trees and stealing the gooey sap to make maple syrup.
ref: 2013 April 13, “Caught sticky-handed”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2023:
text: My parents have been tapping their own trees since 2011. It’s become an important ritual for my family; the first sure sign of spring and one that connects us to traditions much older than written memory.
ref: 2025 March 11, Sarah Lohman, “For Nova Scotians, Local Maple Syrup Is a Disappearing Pleasure”, in Atlas Obscura:
glosses: To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source).
examples: text: It is a hard thing to empty the vvater contained in the breaſt, becauſe the vvaies are not open by vvhich it ſhould be brought forth. Therefore Hippocrates doth adviſe to open the ſide, vvhich becauſe vve never ſee practiſed, and never read in any Author that it vvas done vvith good ſucceſs, vve cannot abſolutely approve; and vve may ſpeak of it as vve have of the Opening or Tapping for the Dropſie, in its proper Chapter.
ref: 1655, Lazarus Riverius [i.e., Lazare Rivière], “Of the Dropsie in the Breast”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, and William Rowland, transl., The Practice of Physick, […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC, 7th book (Of the Diseases of the Breast), section III (Of Pestilential Feavers), pages 163–164:
text: […] I have, ever since my cure, been very thirsty and dropsical; therefore, I presume, it would be much better to tap me, and drink me off, than eat me at once, and have no man in the ship fit to be drunk.
ref: 1709 September 12 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Thursday, September 1, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 62; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume I, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 372:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source).
To drain off fluid from (a person or a body cavity) by paracentesis.
examples: text: Businesses are trying to tap the youth market.
text: He tried to tap cable television without a subscription.
text: Ye ſee maſters yͭ one end tapt of this my ſhort deuiſe / Now muſt we broche thoter to, before the ſmoke ariſe / And by the time they haue a while run.
ref: c. 1553 (date written), “S.” [pseudonym; attributed to William Stevenson], […] Gammer Gurtons Nedle: […], London: […] Thomas Colwell, published 1575, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, signature C, recto:
text: Then up comes Mr. Brass, very brisk and fresh: […] folds his arms, and looks at his gentleman as much as to say, "Here I am—full of evidence—Tap me!" And the gentleman does tap him presently, and with great discretion too; drawing off the evidence little by little, and making it run quite clear and bright in the eyes of all present.
ref: 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Sixty-third”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 153:
text: For our supper, Ginger tapped the local butcher, who gave us the best part of two pounds of sausages. Butchers are always very generous on Saturday nights.
ref: 1931, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Hop-picking”, in Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus, editors, An Age Like This: 1920–1940 (The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell; I), New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, published 1968, →OCLC, page 57:
text: From morning to night they were begging. They wandered enormous distances, zigzagging right across the county, trailing from village and from house to house, ‘tapping’ at every butcher’s and every baker’s and every likely-looking cottage, […]
ref: 1935, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 2, in A Clergyman’s Daughter, London: Secker & Warburg, published 1969, →OCLC, § 2, page 107:
text: "Yes, your buddy. A bit chewed up, I'm afraid. A burglar called it in. He was about to tap the house, then he saw the body. Pry marks on the doorjamb, so I buy it. Don't look inside if you've eaten."
ref: 1990 June, James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, New York, N.Y.: The Mysterious Press, →ISBN, page 228:
text: Much has been made of the connection between Instagram and the generalized hipster sensibility, which places a premium value on the old, the artisanal, and the idiosyncratic. But Instagram taps a fetishization of the past that is more universal.
ref: 2012 April 10, Ian Crouch, “Instagram’s Instant Nostalgia”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2023:
text: Agents from the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, another Department of Homeland Security agency, have run facial recognition searches on millions of Americans' driver's license photos. They have tapped private databases of people's financial and utility records to learn where they live. And they have gleaned location data from license-plate reader databases that can be used to track where people drive.
ref: 2022 September 15, Drew Harwell, “DHS built huge database from cellphones, computers seized at border”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2022:
glosses: To break into or open up (a thing) so as to obtain something; to exploit, to penetrate; tap into.
examples: text: At the range of a couple of hundred yards we emptied our magazines, firing bullet after bullet into the beasts, but with no more effect than if we were pelting them with pellets of paper. Their slow reptilian natures cared nothing for wounds, and the springs of their lives, with no special brain centre but scattered throughout their spinal cords, could not be tapped by any modern weapons.
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘Our Eyes have seen Great Wonders’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 274:
glosses: To deplete (something); to tap out.
examples: text: I tried to tap a cigarette off him, but he wouldn’t give me one.
text: Thanks, old man, Hynes said. I'll tap him too. […] Three bob I lent him in Meagher's. Three weeks. Third hint.
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 7: Aeolus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 115:
synonyms: word: beg
word: blag
word: bum
word: cadge
word: leech
word: mooch
word: scrounge
word: sponge
word: tap
word: wheedle
glosses: 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.
examples: text: They can’t tap the phone without a warrant.
text: mitchener. Why didn't you telephone? / balsquith. They tap the telephone. Every switchboard in London is in their hands, or in those of their young men.
ref: 1909, [George] Bernard Shaw, Press Cuttings: A Topical Sketch […], London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 3:
text: On 3 May the Government decided to take over the Telephone Exchange, which had been operated since the beginning of the war mainly by C.N.T. workers; it was alleged that it was badly run and that official calls were being tapped.
ref: 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XI, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, pages 160–161:
text: "Oh, there is one thing," the Minister called after Lebel, "how did you know to tap the telephone line of Colonel Saint-Clair's private apartment?" Lebel turned in the doorway and shrugged. "I didn't," he said, "so last night I tapped all your telephones. Good day, gentlemen."
ref: 1971 August 6, Frederick Forsyth, “Anatomy of a Kill”, in The Day of the Jackal, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 347:
text: Ever worry about shadowy forces tapping your phone calls and listening in on your private conversations? Well, astronomers have some good news for you: it won't be aliens with their ears (or whatever auditory sensory organs they have evolved) to the speaker getting into your business—unless they've done a lot better than we have at funding radio astronomers.
ref: 2023 May 23, “Is E.T. Eavesdropping on Our Phone Calls?”, in Scientific American, New York, N.Y.: Springer Nature America, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2023:
topics: communication
communications
government
law-enforcement
synonyms: eavesdrop
glosses: 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).
topics: card-games
games
qualifier: board games
glosses: To turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round.
examples: text: I think there's an expression in poker. I'll tap you, Mr. Maverick.
ref: 1957 October 6, Roy Huggins, “According to Hoyle”, in Maverick, season 1, episode 3 (television series), spoken by Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster), Burbank, Calif.: Warner Bros. Pictures, →OCLC:
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: 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.
topics: agriculture
business
horticulture
lifestyle
glosses: To remove a taproot from (a plant).
examples: text: Tap an M3 thread all the way through the hole.
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To cut an internal screw thread in (a hole); also, to cut (an internal screw thread) in a hole, or to create an internally threaded hole in (something).
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To cut an external screw thread into (a bolt or rod) to create a screw.
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To put (a screw or other object) in or through another thing.
examples: text: Ile entertaine Bardolfe. He ſhall tap, he ſhall dravv.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature B, verso:
text: […] I heere doe damne thy licence, / Forbidding thee euer to tap, or dravv.
ref: 1625 (date written), Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts: A Comœdie […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seyle, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, signature [I3], verso:
glosses: To act as a tapster; to draw an alcoholic beverage from a container.
examples: text: A certain country gentleman began to tap upon the first information he received of sir Roger's death: when he sent me up word that, if I would get him chosen in the place of the deceased, he would present me with a barrel of the best October I had ever drank in my life.
ref: 1712 December 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, December 1, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 550; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 170:
glosses: To spend money, etc., freely.
Derived terms: retap
tap into
tap off
tap on
tap out
tapped out
tapper
tap the admiral
tap up
untap
wiretapper