Definition of "tap"

tap¹

/tæp/

noun
plural taps
1. A tapering cylindrical pin or peg used to stop the vent in a cask.
2. A device used to dispense liquids.
3. Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor.
4. A place where liquor is drawn for drinking.
  Quotations
  For the rest, both the tap and parlour of the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters gave upon the river, and had red curtains matching the noses of the regular customers, and were provided with comfortable fireside tin utensils […]
  1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865
5. (mechanics) A device used to cut an internal screw thread. (External screw threads are cut with a die.)
6. A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it.
7. An interception of communication by authority.
8. A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls.
9. (medicine, informal) A procedure that removes fluid from a body cavity.
10. (finance) The situation where a borrowing government authority issues bonds over a period of time, usually at a fixed price, with volumes sold on a particular day dependent on market conditions.
verb
third-person singular simple present taps, present participle tapping, simple past and past participle tapped
1. (transitive) To furnish with taps.
2. (transitive) To draw off liquid from a vessel.
3. (transitive) To deplete, especially of a liquid via a tap; to tap out.
4. (transitive) To exploit.
5. (transitive) To place a listening or recording device on a telephone or wired connection.
  Quotations
  Minister: There is one thing: how did you know whose telephone to tap? / Lebel: I didn't, so I tapped all of them.
  1973, Frederick Forsyth (book), Kenneth Ross (screenplay), Chacal (motion picture)
6. (transitive) To intercept a communication without authority.
7. (transitive, mechanical) To cut an internal screw thread.
8. (transitive, card games, board games) To turn or flip a card or playing piece to remind players that it has already been used that turn (by analogy to "tapping," in the sense of drawing on to the point of temporary exhaustion, the resources or abilities represented by the card).
  Quotations
  I think there's an expression in poker. I'll tap you, Mr. Maverick.
  1957, “According to Hoyle”, in Maverick (televison production), spoken by Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster)
9. (transitive, informal) To cadge, borrow or beg.
10. (medicine, informal) To drain off fluid by paracentesis.
11. (transitive) To advance someone for a post or job, or for membership of a club.
12. (transitive, slang) To arrest.
  Quotations
  "Ain't gone be no Rikers Island for you next time," I warned him. "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."
  2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 108

tap²

/tæp/

verb
third-person singular simple present taps, present participle tapping, simple past and past participle tapped
1. (transitive) To strike lightly.
2. (transitive) To touch one's finger, foot, or other body parts on a surface (usually) repeatedly.
3. To make a sharp noise.
4. (transitive, graphical user interface) To operate an electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) by tapping a specific place on its (capacitive or other) touch screen.
  Quotations
  Tap the Save Image button to save the picture in your iPod touch or iPhone photo library (in the Saved Images album) or tap Cancel to cancel.
  2010, Tony Bove, iPod & iTunes For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, page 302
5. To designate for some duty or for membership, as in 'a tap on the shoulder'.
6. (slang, vulgar, transitive) To have sexual intercourse with.
  Quotations
  What we're entitled to is a house in the Hamptons. Maybe a perscription drug problem. But happiness does not seem to be on the menu so smoke up and seal the deal with Blair because you're also entitled to tap that ass.
  2007, “Pilot”, in Gossip Girl (television production), spoken by Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick)
7. (combat sports) To submit to an opponent by tapping one's hand repeatedly.
8. (combat sports, transitive) To force (an opponent) to submit.
  Quotations
  Hard to believe Kimo [Leopoldo] used a triangle choke to tap [Kazushi] Sak[uraba], but 4 years can make a difference.
  2000 October 14, "K®Æz¥ k ° †€°" (username), “Kimo Tapped Sakuraba”, in alt.ufc‎ (Usenet)
  Just started bjj [=Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu] couple of months ago and i finally tapped someone!!! WOOOHOO! The guy i tapped has been traiing a few more months than me, outweighs me by at least 30 pounds, and is in great shape from the army.
  2003 April 2, "Eddie" (username), “I Tapped Somebody!”, in rec.martial-arts‎ (Usenet)
  [Genki] Sudo weighed 1/4 of what Butterbean [=Eric Esch] weighs and he still tapped Butterbean.
  2004 April 7, "Araxen" (username), “Re: UFC vs. Boxing”, in rec.sport.boxing‎ (Usenet)
9. To put a new sole or heel on.
noun
plural taps
1. A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.
  Quotations
  each of them shakes her Fan at me with a smile , then gives her right-hand woman a tap upon the shoulder
  1711 July 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 102; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
2. (dance) Ellipsis of tap dance.
3. (computing, graphical user interface) The act of touching a touch screen.
4. A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.
5. (military) 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.
6. (phonetics) A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound [ɾ] in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
7. Short for tap of work.
  Quotations
  For to the first floor his duties never took him, at this period, nor to the second, once he had made his bed, and swept clean his little room, which he did every morning the first thing, before coming down, on an empty stomach. Whereas Erskine never did a tap on the ground floor, but all his duties were on the first floor.
  1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press

tap³

/tæp/

noun
1. An Indian malarial fever.

Definition of "tap"

tap1

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tap2

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tap3

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tap¹

tap²

tap³