tap

tap¹ S3 [tæp] n

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1¦(water/gas)¦

2¦(a light hit)¦

3 on tap

4¦(dancing)¦

5¦(telephone)¦

6¦(barrel)¦

7¦(tune)¦

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[Sense: 1, 3, 5, 6; Origin: Old English tAppa]

[Sense: 2, 4, 7; Date: 1300-1400; Origin: TAP²]

1.) ¦(WATER/GAS)¦ especially BrE a piece of equipment for controlling the flow of water, gas etc from a pipe or container

American Equivalent: faucet

▪ Tap water (=water that comes out of a tap) is usually heavily treated with chemicals.

▪ She went into the bathroom and turned on the taps .

kitchen/bath/garden tap

▪ I washed my hands under the kitchen tap.

cold/hot tap

(=the tap that cold or hot water comes from)

2.) ¦(A LIGHT HIT)¦

an act of hitting something lightly, especially to get someone's attention

tap at/on

▪ She felt a tap on her left shoulder.

▪ There was a tap at the door.

3.) on tap

a) beer that is on tap comes from a ↑barrel

b) informal something that is on tap is ready to use when you need it

▪ We've got all the information on tap.

4.) ¦(DANCING)¦ also tap dancing[U]

dancing in which you wear special shoes with pieces of metal on the bottom which make a loud sharp sound on the floor

5.) ¦(TELEPHONE)¦

an act of secretly listening to someone's telephone, using electronic equipment

▪ The police had put a tap on his phone line.

6.) ¦(BARREL)¦

a specially shaped object used for letting liquid out of a ↑barrel, especially beer

7.) ¦(TUNE)¦

taps [plural]

a song or tune played on the ↑bugle at night in an army camp, and at military funerals

tap ²

tap² S3 v past tense and past participle tapped present participle tapping

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1¦(hit lightly)¦

2¦(music)¦

3¦(energy/money)¦

4¦(ideas)¦

5¦(telephone)¦

6¦(tree)¦

7¦(player)¦

Phrasal verbs

　tap something<=>in

　tap something<=>out

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[Sense: 1-2, 8-10; Date: 1100-1200; : Old French; Origin: taper 'to hit with the flat part of the hand']

[Sense: 3-7; Origin: Old English tAppian]

1.) ¦(HIT LIGHTLY)¦ [I and T]

to hit your fingers lightly on something, for example to get someone's attention

tap sb on the shoulder/arm/chest etc

▪ He turned as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

tap on

▪ I went up and tapped on the window.

tap sth on/against/from etc sth

▪ Mark tapped his fingers on the tabletop impatiently.

▪ She tapped ash from her cigarette.

2.) ¦(MUSIC)¦ [T]

to make a regular pattern of sounds with your fingers or feet, especially when you are listening to music

▪ She tapped her feet in time to the music.

▪ a toe-tapping tune

3.) ¦(ENERGY/MONEY)¦ also tap into [T]

to use or take what is needed from something such as an energy supply or an amount of money

▪ People are tapping into the power supply illegally.

▪ We hope that additional sources of funding can be tapped.

4.) ¦(IDEAS)¦ also tap into [T]

to make as much use as possible of the ideas, experience, knowledge etc that a group of people has

▪ Your adviser's experience is there to be tapped.

▪ helping people tap into training opportunities

5.) ¦(TELEPHONE)¦ [T]

to listen secretly to someone's telephone by using a special piece of electronic equipment

▪ Murray's phone calls to Australia were tapped .

6.) ¦(TREE)¦ [T]

to get liquid from the ↑trunk of a tree by making a hole in it

7.) ¦(PLAYER)¦ also tap up [T]

BrE informal if a football club taps a player from another team, it illegally tries to persuade that player to join its team

tap in [tap sth<=>in] phr v

to put information, numbers etc into a computer, telephone etc by pressing buttons or keys

▪ Tap in your password before you log on.

tap out [tap sth<=>out] phr v

1.) to hit something lightly, especially with your fingers or foot, in order to make a pattern of sounds

▪ He whistled the tune and tapped out the rhythm.

2.) to write something with a computer

▪ Brian tapped out a name on his small electronic organizer.