tap 
(i) A very irritable person ; a person easily inflamed, like 
a bundle of flax. 
I ... had no notion that he was such a tap of tow. 
Gait, Annals of the Parish, p. 229. (Jamieson.) 
tap 5 (tap), n. [Abbr. of tap-cinder.'] Same as 
Inp-cinilci'. 
Using such purple ore in the ordinary way, as fettling 
in conjunction with tap. pottery mine, &c. 
Ure, Diet., IV. 493. 
tap6 (tap), n. [Hind, tap, heat, fever, < Skt. 
tdpa, heat.] In India, a malarial fever. 
The country, my entertainer informed me, was considered 
perfectly safe, unless I feared the tap, the bad kind of 
fever which infests all the country at the base of the hills. 
F. M. Crawford, Mr. Isaacs, xii. 
tap 7 (tap), . [Abbr. of tapadera.'] Same as 
tapaaera. 
tapa (ta'pa), n. [Also tappa; Hawaiian, Mar- 
quesas, etc., tapa.] A material much used for 
mats, hangings, and loin-girdles by the natives 
of the Pacific islands, consisting of the bark of 
the paper-mulberry, Broussonetia papyri/era. 
It is prepared by steeping, and afterward beating with 
mallets, the width being thus increased and the length 
diminished; two strips are beaten into one to increase 
the strength. 
Women [in the Hawaiian Islands] wore a short petticoat 
made of tapa, , . . which reached from the waist to the 
knee. Encyc. Brit., XI. 529. 
tapa-cloth (ta'pa-kldth), n. Tapa in its manu- 
factured state. " 
tapacolo (tap-a-ko'16), n. [Chilian.] A Chil- 
ian rock-wren, Pteroptochus megapodius. Also 
called tttalv and tapaculo, Encyc. Brit., III. 743. 
tapadera (tap-a-da'ra), n. [Sp., a cover, lid, 
< tapar, stop up, cover.] A heavy leather 
housing for the stirrup of the Califoruian sad- 
dle, designed to keep the foot from slipping 
forward, and also as a protection in riding 
through thick and thorny underbrush. See cut 
under stirrup. 
tapalpite (ta-pal'pit), n. [< Tapalpa (see def.) 
+ -ite 2 .] A rare sulphotelluride of bismuth 
and silver, occurring in granular massive form 
of a steel-gray color in the Sierra de Tapalpa, 
State of Jalisco, Mexico. 
tap-bar (tap'bar), n. See tup-hole. 
tap-bolt'(tap'bolt), n. A bolt which is screwed 
into the material which it holds, instead of be- 
ing secured by a nut. Also tap-screw. 
tap-borer (tBp'bSr'fer), . A hand-tool for bor- 
A, B, tap-borers with auger-bits a, and taper reaming cutters *. A 
tmd C have autjer-handle at c socketed at d ; B, besides the socket 
for the auger-handle at <i, has a shank e for the use of a bit-stock ; 
C has a gimlet-point at/, and a hollow half-cone cutter g, with sharp 
beveled edges at It. 
ing tapering holes in casks, etc., for the spigot 
or the bung. 
tap-cinder (tap'sin"der), n. Slag produced 
during the process of puddling, it is a silicate 
containing a large amount of the oxid of iron. When 
roasted it is called bulldog, and is extensively used for 
lining the bottoms of puddling-furnaces. A very inferior 
quality of iron (called cinder-pig) is also smelted from it. 
Also called tap. 
tape 1 (tap), n. [< ME. tape, tappe, < AS. teeppe 
(pi. teeppan), a fillet, tape; with omission or loss 
of the radical consonant retained in the paral- 
lel forms tapped, tapestry (> E. tappefi), and 
tappet, tippet (> E. tippet), < L. tapete, cloth, 
tapestry, carpet, < Gr. TOTTJK- (ramjT-), a carpet, 
woolen rug : see tappet 1 and tippet, both dou- 
blets of tape.] If. A band of linen; an orna- 
mental fillet or piece. 
The tapes of hir white voluper 
Were of the same suyte of hir coler. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 55. 
2. A narrow strip of linen or of cotton, white or 
dyed of different colors, used as string for tying 
up papers, etc., or sewed to articles of apparel, 
to keep them in position, give strength, etc. 
Will you buy any tape, 
Or lace for your cape? 
Shale., W. T., iv. 4. 322 (song). 
With (ape-tied curtains never meant to draw. 
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 302. 
3. A narrow, flexible band of any strong fab- 
ric ; rotating on pulleys, which presses and 
guides the movement of sheets in a print- 
ing-machine ov paper-folding machine. 4. In 
6184 
tt-ley., the strip of paper used in n printing 
telegraph-instrument. 5. A tape-line; a tape- 
measure. 6. A long narrow fillet or band of 
metal or mineral: as, a corundum tape. 7. 
Red tape. See the phrase below. 8. A tape- 
worm. 9. Spirituous or fermented driuk. 
[Slang.] 
Every night cellar will furnish you with Holland tape 
[gin], three yards a penny. 
Connoisseur (1756), quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., X. 78. 
Red tape, (a) Tape dyed red, crimson, or pink, much 
employed in public and private business for tying up 
papers. Hence (6) The transaction of public business 
as if it consisted essentially in the making, indorsing, 
taping, and tiling of papers in regular routine ; excessive 
attention to formality and routine without regard to the 
right of the government or of the parties concerned to a 
reasonably speedy conclusion of the case. 
Of tape red tape it [the Circumlocution Office] had 
used enough to stretch in graceful festoons from Hyde 
Park Corner to the General Post Office. 
Dickens, Little Dorrit, ii. 8. 
Tape guipure. See guipure. Tape lace. See lace. 
tape 1 (tap),?'. *.; pret. and pp. to;>ed,ppr. taping. 
[\ tape 1 ,/;.] 1. To furnish with tape or tapes; 
attach tape to ; tie up with tape ; in bookbinding, 
to join the sections of (a book) by bands of 
tape. 
Every scrap of paper which we ever wrote our thrifty 
parent at Castlewood taped and docketed and put away. 
Thackeray, Virginians, Ixxxiv. 
2. To draw out as tape; extend. 
And ye sail hae a' my skill and knowledge to gar the 
siller gang far I'll tape it out weel. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xii. 
tape 2 (tap), . [A var. of taupe, talpe, < L. 
talpa, a mole.] A mole. Halliwell. [Prov. 
Bug.] 
tape-carrier (tap'kar"i-er), n. A tool-holder in 
which a corundum- or emery-coated tape is 
carried in the manner of a frame-saw, for cut- 
ting or filing. E. H. Knight. 
tape-grass (tap'gras), n. An aquatic plant, 
Vallisneria spiralis. 
tapeinocephalic (ta-pl"no-se-fal'ik or -sef'a- 
lik), a. [< tapeinocephal-y + -ic.] In eraniot'., 
Sertaining to, of the nature of, or having a low, 
attened skull. Also written tapinocephalic. 
The skulls thus agree with the ordinary Bushman skull 
in most respects, being microseme, platyrhine, tapeino- 
cephalic. Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XVI. 150. 
tapeinocephaly (ta-pi-no-sef'a-li), [< Gr. 
raireivof, lying low, + usQaAri, head.] The con- 
dition of having a flattened cranial vault. 
tape-line (tap'lin), n. An implement for mea- 
suring lengths, commonly a long piece of tape, 
but now often a specially made linen ribbon 
with wires included in the fabric to prevent 
stretching, or a ribbon of thin steel, marked 
with subdivisions of the foot or meter. This 
name is given especially to the larger measures, as those 
from 20 to 50 feet long, usually coiled in a case of leather 
or metal, and used by engineers, builders, and surveyors. 
tape-measure (tap'mezh"ur), . A piece of 
tape painted and varnished and marked with 
subdivisions of the foot or meter; especially, 
such a piece about a yard or a yard and a half 
long, in use by tailors and dressmakers. Com- 
pare tape-line. 
tapen (ta'pn), a. [< tape 1 + -e 2 .] Made of 
tape. [Rare.] 
Then his soul burst its desk, and his heart broke its 
polysyllables and its tapen bonds, and the man of office 
came quickly to the man of God. 
C. Reade, Never too Late, xxv. (Dairies.) 
tape-needle (tap'ne'dl), n. Same as bodkin, 3. 
tapenert, n . [ME. , < tape* + -n-er. ] A weaver ; 
a narrower; one who regulates the width of 
the cloth. English Gilds (E. E. T. S. ), Glossary. 
tape-primer (tap'pri"mer), . A form of pri- 
mer, now obsolete, for firearms, consisting of a 
narrow strip of paper or other flexible mate- 
rial containing at short and regular intervals 
small charges of a fulminating composition, 
the whole coated with a water-proof composi- 
tion. It required a special form of lock, with a chamber 
to hold the tape, and mechanism for moving the fulmi 
nating charges forward successively to the nipple. 
taper 1 (ta'per), n. [< ME. taper, < AS. tapor, 
taper, a caudle, taper; perhaps < Ir. tapar = 
W. tampr, a taper, torch ; cf. Skt. / tap, burn.] 
A candle, especially a very slender candle ; any 
device for giving light by the agency of a wick 
coated with combustible matter. 
Sermon being ended, every Person present had a large 
lighted Taper put into his hand. 
Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 72. 
Thou watchful Taper, by whose silent Light 
I lonely pass the melancholly Night. 
Conffreve, To a Candle. 
taper 2 (ta'per), a. [Prob. first in comp.; < ta- 
perl, a candle; so called from the converging 
tapestried 
form of the flame of a candle (or. less prob., 
from the converging form of the caudle itself). 
It is possible that the nouu preceded the adj., 
and that taper'- 1 , ., is merely a transferred use 
of taper 1 , n. The AS. "teeper, in comp. txper-sex 
= Icel. tapar-ox, an ax, is not related, being ult. 
of Pers. origin, through Scand. < Finn, tappara, 
< Kuss. toponl = Pol. topor, etc., = OBulg. to- 
poru = Hung, topor = Armenian tapar = Turk. 
tcl>er,< Pers. tabar, an ax, a hatchet.] I. Long 
and becoming slenderer toward the point ; be- 
coming small toward one end. 
Half a leg was scrimply seen ; . . . 
Sae straught, sae taper, tight, and clean. 
Burns, The Vision, i. 
Rosy taper fingers. Tennyson, Mariana in the South. 
2. Diminished; reduced. [Slang.] 
One night I spent over 12s. in the St. Helena Gardens 
at Rotherhithe, and that sort of thing soon makes money 
show taper. 
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, II. 237. 
taper 2 (ta'per), v. [< taper 2 , a.] I. uitraim. 
1. To become taper; become gradually slen- 
derer; grow less in diameter; diminish in one 
direction. 
Her tapering hand and rounded wrist 
Had facile power to form a fist. 
Whittier, Snow-Bound. 
2. To diminish ; grow gradually less. 
Those who seek to thrive merely by falsehood and cun- 
ning taper down at last to nothing. 
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 270. 
3. To spring up in or as in a tall, tapering form. 
[Rare.] 
Sir George Villiers, the new Favourite, tapera np apace, 
and grows strong at Court. . Howett, Letters, I. i. 2. 
To taper Off. (a) To taper; become gradually less. (6) 
To stop slowly or by degrees ; cease gradually. 
II. trans. To cause to taper; make gradually 
smaller, especially in diameter ; cause to dimin- 
ish toward a point. 
Her taper'd fingers too with rings are grac'd. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 47. 
The line is a water-proof silk tapered with a delicate 
gut leader ten or eleven feet long. 
Tribune Boole of Sports, p. 164. 
Tapered rope. See ropei. 
taper 2 (ta'per), n. [< taper^, .] Tapering form : 
gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated 
object; that which possesses a tapering form: 
as, the taper of a spire. 
It [a feeder for irrigation] should taper gradually to the 
extremity, which should be 1 foot in width. The taper 
retards the motion of the water. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 365. 
taper-candlestick (ta'per-kan"dl-stik), n. In 
her., a bearing representing a pricket candle- 
stick of any shape. 
tapered (ta'perd), a. [< taper 1 + -er? 2 .] Lighted 
with tapers. [Rare.] 
The taper'd choir, at the late hour of prayer, 
Oft let me tread. 
T. Warton, Pleasures of Melancholy. 
taper-fuse (ta'per-fuz), n. A long, flexible fuse, 
in the form of a ribbon, charged with a rapid- 
burning composition. 
taperingly (ta'per-ing-li), adv. In a tapering 
manner. 
taperness (ta'per-nes), n. The state of being 
taper. 
A Corinthian pillar has a relative beauty, dependent on 
its taperness 
an pill 
and fo' 
liage. 
Fold 
Shenstone, Taste. 
A rose leaf round thy finger's taper ness. 
Keats, Endymiou, i. 
taper-pointed (ta'per-poin"ted), a. In bot., 
acuminate. 
taper-stand (ta'per-stand), n. A pricket can- 
dlestick, especially one used for the altar of 
a church. See cut under pricket. 
taper-Vise (ta'per-vis), . A vise with cheeks 
adapted for grasping objects of which the sides 
are not parallel. E. H. Knight. 
taperwise (ta'per-wiz), adv. In a tapering 
form ; taperingly. 
It [the box-tree] groweth taperwise, sharpe and pointed 
in the top. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvi. 18. 
Tapes (ta'pez), n. [NL., < Gr. rdm/f, a carpet, 
rug: see tappcfl."] A large genus of marine 
bivalve mollusks of the family J'eneridx, some 
of which are edible and known as pullets. 
tapesium (ta-pe'si-um), . ; pi. tapes/a (-a). 
[NL., < ML. tapesium, tapestry, carpet: see 
tapis, H.] In bot., a carpet or layer of myce- 
lium on which the receptacle is seated. Phil- 
lips, British Discomycetes, Glossary. 
tapestried (tap'es-trid), a. [< tapestry + -ed?.] 
1. Woven or embroidered in the manner of 
tapestry. 
