Word: tap Part of Speech: verb 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 etymology 1, 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 etymology 1, verb sense 1.3.2. Pronunciation: /tæp/, [tʰæp], /tɐːp/ 1. To furnish (a container, etc.) with a tap (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) so that liquid can be drawn. Labels: broadly, transitive Example: There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop—though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's. Example: Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, on Tuesday opened the tap to Nord Stream at a compressor station near Vyborg, north-west Russia. 2. To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source). Labels: transitive Example: He tapped the ten-year-old whiskey from its barrel. Example: If we tap the maple trees, we can get maple syrup. 3. To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source). Labels: informal, transitive Example: 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. Example: […] 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. 4. To break into or open up (a thing) so as to obtain something; to exploit, to penetrate; tap into. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: Businesses are trying to tap the youth market. Example: He tried to tap cable television without a subscription. 5. To deplete (something); to tap out. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: 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. 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. Labels: figuratively, informal, transitive Example: I tried to tap a cigarette off him, but he wouldn’t give me one. Example: Thanks, old man, Hynes said. I'll tap him too. […] Three bob I lent him in Meagher's. Three weeks. Third hint. 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). Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: They can’t tap the phone without a warrant. Example: 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. 8. To turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round. Labels: figuratively, transitive 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. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: I think there's an expression in poker. I'll tap you, Mr. Maverick. 10. To remove a taproot from (a plant). Labels: transitive 11. 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). Labels: transitive Example: Tap an M3 thread all the way through the hole. 12. To cut an external screw thread into (a bolt or rod) to create a screw. Labels: transitive 13. To put (a screw or other object) in or through another thing. Labels: transitive 14. To act as a tapster; to draw an alcoholic beverage from a container. Labels: intransitive Example: Ile entertaine Bardolfe. He ſhall tap, he ſhall dravv. Example: […] I heere doe damne thy licence, / Forbidding thee euer to tap, or dravv. 15. To spend money, etc., freely. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: 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.