tap

Formstaps, tapping, tapped

Pluraltaps

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To strike or touch someone or something lightly, often repeatedly and with a soft, clear sound; also, to make such a sound, or to walk with light tapping steps.

   He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as we sat in traffic.

   Tap your toes on the floor to test the rhythm.

   UsageThe object can be the body part or the thing struck: tap your fingers on the table, tap someone on the shoulder.

   Similardrum, rap, knock, pat

   Note

   The gesture can carry meaning. In Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle (1819), bystanders tap their foreheads to suggest the old man has lost his wits. Tennyson's The Princess (1847) spells the past tense tapt.

2. 2
   use resourcesverbfigurativelytransitive

   To break into or open up something in order to obtain or exploit what it holds.

   Engineers learned to tap geothermal energy beneath the valley.

   The campaign tapped a deep well of public anger.

   UsageAlso tap into: tap into new markets, tap into public anger.

   Similarharness, exploit, utilize

   Note

   The cask metaphor stays close to the surface. You tap a market, an energy source or a public mood the way you tap a barrel, to draw out what it holds. Dickens makes the image literal in The Old Curiosity Shop, where Mr. Brass stands full of evidence and invites counsel to tap him. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Charles Dickens wrote The Old Curiosity Shop. gutenberg.org
   • Mr. Brass presents himself as full of evidence and invites counsel, through his expression, to tap him. gutenberg.org
   • Dickens develops the image of drawing evidence from Brass as liquid from a cask. gutenberg.org
3. 3
   faucetnouncountable

   A hollow fitting with a valve, used to control the flow of a fluid from a cask, pipe, or other vessel.

   Mineral deposits had slowly clogged the kitchen tap.

   She turned the tap to fill the watering can.

   UsageSay turn on the tap, turn off the tap, tap water. In North America the household one is often called a faucet.

   Similarfaucet, spigot, spout, cock, stopcock

   Note

   Water from the pipe is the everyday case: you get a drink from the tap, and tap water is the ordinary contrast with bottled. The valve is not essential, though. In maple sugaring, taps, also called spouts or spiles, are open pipes pushed into holes drilled in the tree so the sap can run. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Maple-sugaring taps are also called spouts or spiles and can be valveless pipes. en.wiktionary.org
   • Maple taps are inserted into drilled holes in trees to collect flowing sap. extension.umn.edu
4. 4
   press (screen)verbtransitive

   To touch a button, icon, or place on a device's touchscreen to start a function.

   Tap the home button to return to the main screen.

   He tapped the settings gear to change the volume.

   UsageWorks with or without on: tap the button, tap on the icon. The finger's version of a click.

   Similarpress, touch, hit

5. 5
   a light knocknouncountable or uncountable

   A light blow or strike that makes a clear sound, or the sound the blow produces.

   The steady tap of rain on the roof helped her sleep.

   A faint tap came from somewhere inside the wall.

   UsageCommon phrases: a tap on the door, a tap on the shoulder.

   Similarknock, rap, patter, pat

   Note

   The noun once had a partner in tip. George Gascoigne in 1573 speaks of requiting tip for tap, and Shakespeare's The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth calls tap for tap the right fencing grace. Both phrases meant blow for blow, repaying like with like. In ordinary use now it is a single light knock, a tap on the shoulder, or the sound that knock makes. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Tip historically meant a light blow, like tap. en.wiktionary.org
   • Gascoigne's work containing the passage was first published in 1573. en.wikipedia.org
   • Gascoigne uses tip for tap in discussing repayment of wrongs. en.wiktionary.org
   • William Shakespeare wrote The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • The play calls tap for tap the right fencing grace; Falstaff speaks the line. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • Tip for tap and tap for tap meant blow for blow or equivalent retaliation. upload.wikimedia.org
6. 6
   choose for roleverbcolloquialUStransitive

   To single someone out for a post, task, honor, or membership in an organization.

   The board tapped him to run the new division.

   Senior members tap promising recruits for the honor society.

   UsageOften tapped for a role or tapped to lead, and often passive: tapped by the president.

   Similarchoose, pick, select, appoint, name

   Note

   Audie Murphy's To Hell and Back (1949) uses it for soldiers picked for a patrol. The verb suggests a nod from above rather than a vote, so it suits appointments, not contests. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • To Hell and Back is attributed to Audie Murphy. en.wikipedia.org
   • To Hell and Back was first published in 1949. audiemurphy.com
   • The book uses tapped for soldiers selected for a patrol. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   dance stylenoununcountableabbreviationellipsis

   Short form of tap dance: a style of dance in which metal plates on the shoes beat out rhythms on the floor.

   Her favorite class is tap.

   They performed a routine that mixed tap and jazz.

   UsageUsed with no a, like ballet or jazz: a class in tap, study tap. Also before nouns: tap shoes.

   Note

   Dance schools and timetables use the short form freely, as in classes in ballet, jazz and tap. Patrick Kidd, trying the dance for The Times in 2009, counted his sense of rhythm an advantage, since to him tap was at heart a kind of jazz.

8. 8
   a screen touchnouncountable or uncountable

   A single touch on a button, icon, or location on a device's touchscreen to invoke a function.

   Each tap registers as a separate command.

   A quick tap brings up the keyboard.

   UsageCounted like a click: a tap, two taps, with a few taps on the screen.

   Similartouch, press

9. 9
   listen secretlyverbfigurativelytransitive

   To secretly listen in on or record phone calls or other communications, often by connecting a hidden device to the line.

   Agents tapped the landline to gather evidence.

   Authorities cannot tap a citizen's phone without a warrant.

   UsageUsually tap a phone or tap a line; also have your phone tapped.

   Similareavesdrop

   Note

   Police tap a phone or a line, but the conversation can also be the object: in George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia (1938), official calls themselves are being tapped. Bernard Shaw's Press Cuttings (1909) already has a minister who will not telephone because they tap the telephone. For the equipment and the operation as nouns, compare the listening device. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • George Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia, first published in 1938. themorgan.org
   • Homage to Catalonia uses 'tapped' with official calls as its grammatical subject. marxists.org
   • Bernard Shaw wrote Press Cuttings, first published in 1909. library.brown.edu
   • In Press Cuttings, Prime Minister Balsquith explains that he did not telephone because the telephone is tapped. gutenberg.org
10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To draw off liquid from a container or natural source, such as a barrel or a tree, often by fitting it with a tap or making an opening in it.

    Farmers tap the trees once the sap begins to rise.

    She tapped the barrel and filled a glass with cider.

    Note

    The verb grows out of the plug itself: Old English tæppa meant a plug or peg, and to tap a cask was to open it at its tap. The object can be either end of the flow, so you tap the whiskey or tap the barrel, the sap or the maple. The figure is old. Thomas Nashe in 1589 mocks fools tapping knowledge before they have filled it, the image behind the sense of exploiting a resource. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The liquid-drawing verb derives from the noun denoting a plug or tap. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English tæppa denoted a bung or plug, which could be withdrawn to open a cask. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Nashe passage appeared in 1589, the first publication year of The Anatomie of Absurditie. research.ncl.ac.uk
    • Nashe mocks ignorant people through the metaphor of tapping knowledge before filling its imagined container, illustrating the old figurative extension to drawing on resources. sourcetext.com
11. 11
    nouncountable

    A secret device for listening in on telephone calls or other communications, or the interception or recording made with it.

    The tap revealed conversations spanning months of the scheme.

    The judge threw out the tap because the police had never obtained a warrant.

    Similarwiretap, bug

12. 12
    verbintransitive

    In martial arts and wrestling, to submit by tapping the mat or the opponent several times, or to force an opponent to submit in this way.

    She tapped quickly once the choke tightened around her neck.

    Wrestlers tap rather than risk a broken arm.

    UsageNo object for the loser, often tap out: she tapped out in the first round. The winner can also tap an opponent.

    Similarsubmit

    Note

    The word comes straight from the gesture. It may belong to the imitative family of light, sounding blows, and the surrender is named for the slap of the hand on the mat or on the opponent's body.

13. 13
    cut threadsverbtransitive

    To cut an internal screw thread into a hole, or to create such a threaded hole in a piece of material.

    The machinist tapped the block to accept the mounting bolts.

    Workers tap the holes after drilling them to size.

    Similarthread

    Note

    Machinists tap a hole, tap a thread, or tap a part, and all three describe the same job done with the threading tool, as in tap an M3 thread all the way through the hole. The verb means an internal thread, the female half. The outside thread of a bolt is cut with a die instead, and that job is not called tapping.

14. 14
    nounBritishcountable

    A connection made onto an electrical conductor or onto a pipe or other channel for fluid, leaving the conductor or channel unbroken.

    Unauthorized taps along the pipeline had left the towns at the far end short of pressure.

    The crew installed a tap on the feeder cable so the new pump station could draw power without an outage.

    Note

    Here the word names a junction rather than the valve on a pipe: a point where a cable or pipe is drawn on while the main run continues past it uncut. Engineers also call it a tapping, the -ing form serving as a second noun. Each tap in use takes its share, so a heavily drawn line carries less toward its far end. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The connection leaves the main conductor or fluid channel unbroken. en.wiktionary.org
    • A tap need not draw off any supply: an unused electrical tap draws no current. Downstream reduction depends on what the branches actually draw, rather than their number alone. en.wikipedia.org
15. 15
    verbcolloquialfigurativelytransitive

    To try to get something free of charge by asking or begging for it; also, to ask or beg a person for something free of charge.

    Every weekend he would tap his friends for small loans that he never paid back.

    Short of cash again, he tapped his brother-in-law, who handed over a twenty without a word.

    UsageUsually tap someone for money: tap his friends for small loans.

    Similarbeg, scrounge, mooch, cadge, bum

    Note

    The image is the cask: a person is tapped the way a barrel is drawn off, for whatever can be got out of them. This verb grows from the faucet word, not from the light blow, which has an origin of its own. It is casual scrounging talk, already at home in James Joyce's Ulysses (1922): "I'll tap him too." Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The scrounging sense is a figurative extension of tapping a container and drawing off its contents. en.wiktionary.org
    • Tap meaning a light blow has a separate etymology. en.wiktionary.org
    • James Joyce wrote Ulysses, first published as a book in 1922. en.wikisource.org
    • The quoted words occur in Ulysses; the fictional speaker is Hynes. en.wikisource.org

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