tags

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of tag.

   The clothing came with two paper tags still attached to the sleeve.

   Researchers attached small radio tags to the migrating birds.

   Note

   One spelling, two jobs: the same form also serves as the present-tense verb, so the sentence decides whether tags are things or an action. As a noun plural it gathers very different objects: paper labels, skin tags, dung-matted locks of sheep's wool, the stiff metal points at the ends of laces. A modifier in front usually makes clear which kind is meant, as in price tags or skin tags.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of tag.

   The software automatically tags incoming messages by topic.

   A ranger tags each captured bear before releasing it back into the wild.

   Note

   The verb ranges widely, and the object usually settles the meaning. Someone tags a parcel with a label, a wall with graffiti, a runner with the ball, or the ball itself by hitting it hard. One slang use means having sex with someone, and it is vulgar. Wherever a person is the object and the context could invite that reading, a writer who means something else should make the sense explicit.

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