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. See Illust. under Bolt. — Tap cinder (Metal.), the slag of a
puddling furnace.
Tap
(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, etc.
2. Hence, to draw from (anything) in any analogous way; as, to tap telegraph wires for the purpose of
intercepting information; to tap the treasury.
3. To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing. Shak.
He has been tapping his liquors.
Addison. 4. (Mech.) To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut.
Tapa
(||Ta"pa) n. A kind of cloth prepared by the Polynesians from the inner bark of the paper mulberry; —
sometimes called also kapa.
Tapayaxin
(||Ta`pa*yax"in) n. (Zoöl.) A Mexican spinous lizard (Phrynosoma orbiculare) having a head
somewhat like that of a toad; — called also horned toad.
Tape
(Tape) n. [AS. tæppe a fillet. Cf. Tapestry, Tippet.]
1. A narrow fillet or band of cotton or linen; a narrow woven fabric used for strings and the like; as, curtains
tied with tape.
2. A tapeline; also, a metallic ribbon so marked as to serve as a tapeline; as, a steel tape.
Red tape. See under Red. — Tape grass (Bot.), a plant (Vallisneria spiralis) with long ribbonlike
leaves, growing in fresh or brackish water; — called also fresh-water eelgrass, and, in Maryland, wild
celery. — Tape needle. See Bodkin, n., 4.
Tapeline
(Tape"line`) n. A painted tape, marked with linear dimensions, as inches, feet, etc., and often
inclosed in a case, — used for measuring.
Taper
(Ta"per) n. [AS. tapur, tapor, taper; cf. Ir. tapar, W. tampr.]
1. A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light.
Get me a taper in my study, Lucius.
Shak. 2. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper of a spire.
Taper
(Ta"per) a. [Supposed to be from taper, n., in allusion to its form.] Regularly narrowed toward
the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidical; as, taper fingers.
Taper
(Ta"per), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tapered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Tapering.] To become gradually smaller
toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end.
Taper
(Ta"per), v. t. To make or cause to taper.
Tapered
(Ta"pered) a. Lighted with a taper or tapers; as, a tapered choir. [R.] T. Warton.
Tapering
(Ta"per*ing) a. Becoming gradually smaller toward one end. — Ta"per*ing*ly, adv.
