Definition of "taper"

taper¹

/ˈteɪpə/

noun
plural tapers
1. A slender wax candle.
  Quotations
  Strike on the Tinder, hoa: / Giue me a Taper: […]
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 311, line 157
  Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning:
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii], page 376, column 2
  He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
  1813 August 13, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson
  The red glare of the tapers flung a strange unnatural hue on the painted windows of the little Gothic chapel, where none slept save the noble of name, and the high of blood—purple and crimson, the colours mingled together in fantastic combinations, till the rainbow-hued figures seemed to move with supernatural life.
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 160
  Love used to carry a bow, you know,But now he carries a taper;It is either a length of wax aglow,Or a twist of lighted paper.
  1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Change
2. (by extension) A small light.
3. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object.
  Quotations
  Her hair hangs over her ears and flows to a taper at the back of her neck where it is held in place with a wide and circular black clasp.
  2005, Michael Ellis, Apollo Rises, page 15
4. A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
5. A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
verb
third-person singular simple present tapers, present participle tapering, simple past and past participle tapered
1. (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
  Quotations
  Though true cylinders without — within, the villainous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
2. (intransitive) To become thinner or narrower at one end.
3. (intransitive) To diminish gradually.
4. (intransitive) (of a central bank) To tighten monetary policy.
adjective
1. Tapered; narrowing to a point.

taper²

/ˈteɪpə/

noun
plural tapers
1. (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
2. Someone who works with tape or tapes.

Definition of "taper"

taper1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb

Quotations

adjective

taper2

noun

taper¹

taper²