tap
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tæp/
ipa: [tʰæp]
ipa: /tɐːp/
rhymes: -æp
Forms: form: taps
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: synonyms: spigot
spile
glosses: A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
glosses: An object with a tapering conical form like a tap (sense 1); specifically, ellipsis of taproot (“long, tapering root of a plant”).
examples: text: We don’t have bottled water; you’ll have to get it from the tap.
text: Is the tap water here safe to drink?
text: Taps, also called spouts or spiles, are valveless pipes inserted into drilled holes in maple trees to collect their sap as part of the process of making maple syrup
synonyms: cock
faucet
handle
spigot
spout
stopcock
glosses: 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.
examples: text: He tapped on the Whatsapp icon on his phone.
text: There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop—though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's.
ref: 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 8:
text: Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, on Tuesday opened the tap to Nord Stream at a compressor station near Vyborg, north-west Russia.
ref: 2011 September 6, Isabel Gorst, “Russia opens $10bn Nord Stream tap”, in Financial Times, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2022:
text: The event is called "Men & Vulnerability," and when I walk in, I'm surprised to find about 50 people milling about, drinking free wine and pouring themselves beers from a tap in the communal kitchen.
ref: 2019 October 12, James D. Walsh, “I Lived Adam Neumann's Perfect Life for a Day. It was Terrible.”, in Intelligencer, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 May 2023:
text: The tap you drink from says a lot about you. There's a hierarchy to the taps in your house, and even if you don't observe it consciously you probably abide by it in some way. You may argue that the water all comes from the same source, but its taste is inarguably defined by the vibe of its tap.
ref: 2023 January 26, Jack Vening, “The tap you drink from in your house says a lot about you”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2023:
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
examples: text: a liquor of the same tap
text: Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine, and a block of curiously heavy cake, and administered instalments of those dainties to the young people: at the same time, sending out a meagre servant to offer a glass of "something" to the postboy, who answered that he thanked the gentleman, but if it was the same tap as he had tasted before, he had rather not.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 55:
text: Those Norwegians and those Laps
 Have extraordinary taps:
 Those Laps especially have strange fancies:
 To see them drink,
 I verily think
 Would make me lose my senses.
ref: 1825, Francesco Redi, translated by Leigh Hunt, Bacchus in Tuscany, a Dithyrambic Poem, […], London: […] [J. C. Kelly] for John and H[enry] L[eigh] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 14:
text: I wish my aunt would send down some of this to the governor; it's a precious good tap.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “James Crawley’s Pipe Is Put Out”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 305:
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
Liquor drawn through a tap (sense 2.2); hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; also (figurative, informal), a certain kind or quality of any thing.
topics: communication
communications
government
law-enforcement
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications.
examples: text: telephone tap
text: It is true—and undisputed—that, in the weeks between the 2016 election and Trump's inauguration, several top Obama administration officials asked the National Security Agency to reveal the identity of an American citizen overheard on phone taps speaking with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak—a request known as "unmasking."
ref: 2020 May 14, Fred Kaplan, “‘Obamagate’ wasn’t even a Scandal the First Time”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 May 2023:
topics: communication
communications
government
law-enforcement
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
A secret interception of telephone calls or other communications using such a device; also, a recording of such a communication.
examples: text: bond tap    tap issue
topics: business
finance
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
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.
examples: text: We drilled a hole and then cut the threads with the proper tap to match the valve’s thread.
text: To fit the Pin therefore to a true ſize, I in my Practiſe uſe to try into vvhat Hole of the Screvv Plate, the Tap or place of the Tap, (if it be a tapering Tap,) I make the Nut vvith vvill juſt ſlide through; […] But if the Screvv-Tap have no Handle, then it hath its upper end Filed to a long ſquare, to fit into an hollovv ſquare, made near the Handle of the Screvv-Plate: Put that long ſquare hole over the long ſquare on the top of the Tap, and then by turning about the Screvv-Plate, you vvill alſo turn about the Tap in the Hole, and make Grooves and Threds in the Nut.
ref: 1678 January 11 – February 11 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] II. Applied to the Making of Hinges, Locks, Keys, Screws and Nuts Small and Great.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1683, →OCLC, page 31:
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
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.
examples: text: [H]ere has been nothing but canting and praying ſince the fellovv entered the place.—Rabbit him! the tap vvill be ruined—vve han't ſold a caſk of beer, nor a dozen of vvine, ſince he paid his garniſh—the gentlemen get drunk vvith nothing but your damned religion.— […]
ref: 1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, pages 72–73:
text: Guard emerges from the tap, where he prefers breakfasting, […]
ref: 1857, [Thomas Hughes], chapter IV, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 87:
text: For the rest, both the tap and parlor of the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters gave upon the river, and had red curtains matching the noses of the regular customers, and were provided with comfortable fireside tin utensils, […]
ref: 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Cut Adrift”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, book the first (The Cup and the Lip), page 47:
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
Ellipsis of taphouse or taproom (“place where alcoholic beverages are served on tap”).
synonyms: bar
barroom
examples: text: The system was barely keeping pressure due to all of the ill-advised taps along its length.
topics: business
electrical
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
mechanical
mechanical-engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To click on something usually a device.
A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it; a tapping.
Synonyms: word: clap
word: knock
word: pat
word: ping
word: plip
word: plonk
word: plop
word: rap
word: slam
word: slap
word: smack
word: spank
word: tap
Hypernyms: word: abrupt sound
Hyponyms: word: bang
word: kerpow
word: pow
word: wham
word: clump
word: flump
word: kerplunk
word: plunk
word: thud
word: thump
Derived terms: ascitic tap
bubble tap
center tap
champagne tap
cold tap
hot tap
lifetap
mixer tap
on tap
on the tap
pericardial tap
pleural tap
plug tap
power tap
relocatable power tap
spinal tap
stop-tap
tap bolt
tap changer
tap cinder
tap drill
taphole
taphouse
taplash
tapless
tapman
tappee
taproom
taproot
tapware
tap water
tap wrench
tippy-tap
toe-tap
video tap
water tap
wiretap
Related terms: word: tapster
word: beep
word: snap