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Tap   /tæp/   Listen
noun
Tap  n.  
1.
A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.
2.
A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.
3.
pl. (Mil.) A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo.


Tap  n.  
1.
A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn.
2.
A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like; a faucet.
3.
Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; as, a liquor of the same tap. (Colloq.)
4.
A place where liquor is drawn for drinking; a taproom; a bar. (Colloq.)
5.
(Mech.) A tool for forming an internal screw, as in a nut, consisting of a hardened steel male screw grooved longitudinally so as to have cutting edges.
On tap.
(a)
Ready to be drawn; as, ale on tap.
(b)
Broached, or furnished with a tap; as, a barrel on tap.
Plug tap (Mech.), a screw-cutting tap with a slightly tapering end.
Tap bolt, a bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut.
Tap cinder (Metal.), the slag of a puddling furnace.


verb
Tap  v. t.  (past & past part. tapped; pres. part. tapping)  
1.
To strike with a slight or gentle blow; to touch gently; to rap lightly; to pat; as, to tap one with the hand or a cane.
2.
To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes.


Tap  v. t.  
1.
To pierce so as to let out, or draw off, a fluid; as, to tap a cask, a tree, a tumor, a keg of beer, etc.
2.
Hence, to draw resources from (a reservoir) in any analogous way; as, to tap someone's knowledge of the Unix system; to tap the treasury.
3.
To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing. "He has been tapping his liquors."
4.
(Mech.) To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut, a pipe, or tubing.
5.
To connect a listening device to (a telephone or telegraph line) secretly, for the purpose of hearing private conversations; also, to obtain or record (information) by tapping; a technique used by law enforcement agencies investigating suspected criminals. In the United States it is illegal without a court order permitting it.


Tap  v. i.  To strike a gentle blow.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Tap" Quotes from Famous Books



... out of breath and almost choked with emotion. The long expected day had arrived. Serge was coming back to her. She went on, and as she reached the door of the stair leading to her mother's rooms, she heard a light tap ...
— Serge Panine, Complete • Georges Ohnet
... Market Street in San Francisco. It stood on the west side of the street. As you entered, the bar was on the left. On the right, against the wall, was the free lunch counter. It was a long, narrow room, and at the rear, beyond the beer kegs on tap, were small, round tables and chairs. The barkeeper was blue-eyed, and had fair, silky hair peeping out from under a black silk skull-cap. I remember he wore a brown Cardigan jacket, and I know precisely the spot, in the ...
— John Barleycorn • Jack London
... occurred to Triffitt that here was an easy way of making a call upon your next door neighbour; instead of crossing the corridor and knocking at his door, you had nothing to do but walk along the balcony and tap at his window. Filled with this thought Triffitt immediately stepped out on his balcony and inspected the windows of his own and the next flat. He immediately saw something which filled him with a great idea. Both windows were fitted with patent ventilators, let into the top ...
— The Herapath Property • J. S. Fletcher
... was able to tap that vast, hidden and unsung reservoir of knowledge which is the epitome of all that the human mind has grasped and which, though flowing through the subconscious mind of all, is available in its entirety to but few—and then in all too ...
— Heart and Soul • Victor Mapes (AKA Maveric Post)
... the kitchen and, making a light, washed up at the tap, then foraged for breakfast. Persistence turned up a spirit-stove, a half-bottle of methylated, a packet of tea, a tin or two of biscuit, as many more of potted meats: left-overs from the artist's stock, dismally scant and uninviting in array. With these he made the discovery ...
— The Lone Wolf - A Melodrama • Louis Joseph Vance


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