TAPPING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tapping

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/tˈæpɪŋ/ Listen

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.

See images of 'Tapping'

Etymology of 'Tapping'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tapping" Quotes from Famous Books

... these days, of a broken wheel or axle on a railway coach, yet at the chief stopping places on our railways a man goes round each train as it comes in, tapping the tires with a hammer to detect cracks, feeling the hubs to see if there is any sign of a hot box, and looking into the grease containers to see if there is a proper supply of lubricant. There ought to be a similar inspection of every aeroplane every time it touches ...

— The Mastery of the Air • William J. Claxton

... by his father, after which that symptom no longer appeared; he would give none but irrelevant answers to questions; he masturbated openly. In the next phase he refused to answer questions altogether, sat in a chair by the window, rocking and tapping the floor or wall with his feet; reading a paper in a whisper or tearing it into scraps; spitting on the floor, his clothes or the window pane and then drawing pictures with his finger on the wet glass; intermittently chanting the same air over and over again with words, totally indistinguishable, ...

— The Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Volume 10

... valentudinarian. No participation in what went on around him. I did venture, I think, to send you a few words of cutting from our local paper, which I took the occasion to contribute on his decease. If I recollect myself aright, such is very much the gist of them. But don't, Mr Humphreys,' continued Cooper, tapping him impressively on the chest,—'don't you run away with the impression that I wish to say aught but what is most creditable—most creditable—of your respected uncle and my late employer. Upright, Mr Humphreys—open as the day; liberal to all in his dealings. He had the ...

— Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - Part 2: More Ghost Stories • Montague Rhodes James

... niece, Lucy Harmon Webster. After she had finished reading the letter, Ellen sat tapping her foot impatiently upon the floor. ...

— The Wall Between • Sara Ware Bassett

... would, as every one knew, have out his say had the King been present in person. "Be assured, your Excellency, it is not the King who orders that affront to his faithful colony; it is the King's ministers—the King's mistresses—the snuff-box-tapping courtiers at Versailles, who can spend the public money in more elegant ways than in raising up walls round our brave old city! Ancient honor and chivalry of France! what has become ...

— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

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