| 释义 |
nounPlural taps taptæp 1A device by which a flow of liquid or gas from a pipe or container can be controlled. she turned the cold tap on Example sentencesExamples - Before hopping my way unsteadily to the bathroom where I managed to bend myself in ways I never thought possible to get my foot into the basin and under the cold tap!
- He pulled himself up and stumbled to the bathroom, where he turned on the cold tap and collapsed at the bottom of the shower, barely awake.
- The water from the bathroom tap was painfully cold.
- Boil for one minute, then drain through a sieve and rinse under the cold tap.
- Oil crooks there and elsewhere can find an unguarded length of pipe and make their own tap.
- He heard her turning the tap on, pouring cold water into the kettle.
- Perforations lead into a hollow stem which is controlled by a tap permitting small quantities of champagne to be withdrawn from the inverted bottle without the remainder losing its sparkle.
- For a long time it controlled the tap on how much surplus oil was entering the market.
- When you turn on the tap, unfiltered water flows through the faucet head at a full-pressure flow as with any conventional faucet.
- Some critics have also found it ironic that many people who purchase bottled water end up refilling the containers from a tap.
- I shoved it into the sink, turned on the cold tap and let icy water wash over fabric.
- Look for a model with digital output temperature control, which delivers consistently hot water from the tap, regardless of flow rate.
- The water must be freshly boiled, from the cold tap.
- I got the watering can and filled it with cold water from the tap and I walked outside.
- After a minute, I had calmed down, and I rinsed my hands in the cold water from the tap, splashing water onto my face.
- Go fill a bucket or two from the cold tap now, before it's too late.
- There was an area with a concrete floor, a tin bath, a copper, a sink and a cold tap.
- She turned the tap and splashed cold water onto her face.
- They have control of the financial tap that nourishes them, and they will not easily give up power.
- The leaflet also urges people to keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of running the tap until it is cold, because running the tap for one minute wastes six litres of water.
Synonyms valve, spout, stopcock, cock, spile North American faucet, spigot - 1.1British An electrical connection made to some point between the end terminals of a transformer coil or other component.
Example sentencesExamples - The power system doesn't like it but it compensates for it by changing the tap on the transformer.
- This power tap is connected to the expansion-slot rocker power switch which screws into a free PCI backpanel.
- Thyristor-assisted tap changers use thyristors to take the on-load current while the main contacts change over from one tap to the next.
- So you'd have to hold on to the tap, and drop in the transformer plugged into an extension lead from your hallway.
- By placing a tap in the primary winding, we could change the turns ratio so that with 456 volts input we could still get 120 volts output.
- Loop length, the presence of load coil, bridge tap and wideband noise can affect DSL performance adversely.
2A device connected to a telephone for listening secretly to someone's conversations. those taps produced hundreds of hours of recordings Example sentencesExamples - I have a police scanner and a tap on the police computers and phone lines.
- "But I have reason to believe now that there was a tap on not only these phones, but my line back at the loft, too."
- It, theoretically, allowed for a certain degree of scrambling that would be too low tech for most agencies to hack into with placing an actual physical tap on the phone; and it was the physical access to corridor twelve that made this method of communication the most secure thing they had.
- Check it out, but be careful leaving comments - it won't be long before the Department of Homeland Security has a tap on his modem.
- Is that because it would have revealed a tap on his phone, a tap on his cell phone and the GPS locator?
- "We intercepted a message on a wire tap that someone was coming here tonight - to your house."
- The phone tap that had been covertly installed into the their phones was working perfectly, broadcasting the conversation directly into a control room located deep within the recesses of his home.
Synonyms listening device, wiretap, wire, bug, bugging device, hidden microphone, receiver - 2.1 An act of listening secretly to someone's telephone conversation.
Example sentencesExamples - Listening in on the tap, a man laughed, putting his head set down.
- When a novel phone number places or receives an international call, that call is automatically recorded, and a tap stays on this line until the statistical analysis indicates that it is likely not a number of interest.
- It was the first-ever tap of a private computer network under a 1968 crime act that set legal guidelines for wiretaps.
- He was found guilty on Monday of disclosing information, documents and details from phone taps in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
- So far, he has done precisely nothing - despite, as the telephone tap makes clear, having first-class intelligence.
- Essentially, 59 % of Americans approve of letting law enforcement monitor e-mails in a manner akin to a phone tap and only as regulated by law.
- It provides a great deal of ‘mobility’, as discussed by him in his press conference, since you would be sure of continuing a tap even if the subject moved to a new phone.
3An instrument for cutting a threaded hole in a material. Example sentencesExamples - The Heiner screw box and its original tap are for threads of two-inch nominal diameter with two and a half threads per inch.
- Page 233 shows three smaller taps (minus guide plates) for about two-inch diameter threads.
- Figure 31 shows the two main styles of tap for making internal threads in wood.
- A bottoming tap is never used to cut threads in an unthreaded hole, as the cutting edges lack the taper required to successfully start into such a hole.
- The surgeon uses a reamer and threaded tap to drill a hole to hold the titanium cage containing the bone graft.
- Mount the oversize bushing tap in any tap handle, apply cutting oil and re-tap the grip frame bushing holes.
- Nowadays, most tool purchases involve replacing the expendable items such as drill bits, sanding belts and specialty taps and anything else that wears out.
- This is a hard narrow cone-shaped tool resembling a thread tap, except it has rough reverse threads on it.
- The ‘choke tube thread cleaner’ not only removes all the accumulated crud from the barrel threads, but also functions as a large tap to restore damaged threads.
- Making threads in wood usually was done with a matched set of hand tools a steel or iron tap for cutting internal spiral threads into a hole in a block of wood, and a screw box for cutting external spiral threads around a wooden rod
4British A taproom. Example sentencesExamples - The tap was a veritable hub of activity and human drama.
verbtapped, tapping, taps taptæp [with object]1Draw liquid through the tap or spout of (a cask, barrel, or other container) several barrels had been tapped to celebrate old victories Example sentencesExamples - How do you tap a full barrel that is laying on its side?
- The keg will be tapped at 6 PM with wine, other beverages and snacks provided.
- This reality was imposed on the citizens of Vratza who can now only freely wash or drink tapped water four hours a night.
- The early closing time of pubs meant that carousers were forced to gather at dusk in private homes, where the host would tap a barrel.
- ‘Born-on’ dates on kegs will be logged when beer is delivered and again when tapped.
- And if you have a truly artisan brewery, the taste of the brew may vary from keg to keg, depending on when it was brewed and how long it has been tapped.
- Back at the ranch, burgers and dogs are fired up, a keg of Old Dominion Pale Ale is tapped and points are tallied.
- When we get back the New Belgium kegs get tapped and we start getting primed for the night.
- Barrels of beers await to be tapped by revellers here.
- The event proceeded smoothly and the Keg was eventually tapped by two executives of the Federation of Students.
- But by the grace of God everyone stepped away from the bar and I was able to get the keg tapped, which now made me the most popular person in all the land.
- To the back of Adian lay a bar, with flasks and wooden kegs that were tapped for liquid stacked in every available place.
Synonyms draw liquid from, drain, bleed, milk broach, open, pierce, puncture - 1.1 Draw (liquid) from a cask, barrel, or other container.
in the cellars of the monasteries the butlers were tapping new and old ale Example sentencesExamples - President-elect George W. Bush has argued that the oil can be tapped without killing wildlife or marring the environment.
- The water needed to be tapped from a reliable spring four miles away raising the cost of the scheme to £3,000 - to be paid by the householders.
- Perennial shrubs often develop a dimorphic root system, where deeper roots tap a more reliable water source at depth.
- The divided and conquered nature of the country has made it easy for oil to be tapped without raising the ire of countries worldwide.
- This is not to say that if we tap and drain a deposit, it will somehow mysteriously fill up again.
- Dropsy was treated by bleeding, tapping, and plantain and liverwort.
- The deep Israeli wells in the Jordan Valley have good water quality since they tap the Lower Cenomanian aquifer system.
- Ferro cement tanks are being used in some cases while most of the units have used high density plastic tanks for storing the rain water tapped through the method.
Synonyms pour (out), draw off, siphon off, pump out, decant, extract, withdraw, remove - 1.2 Draw sap from (a tree) by cutting into it.
Example sentencesExamples - My mother did rubber latex tapping for a meagre wage to feed us.
- With the warm days and cold nights, maple trees are tapped for flowing sap.
- An unusual profession on the islands is calou (palm wine) tapping.
- Between 1910 and 1920, for example, the number of trees tapped for resin increased from 260,000 to 2,135,000.
- Local bars in some towns and villages will also sell poyo the sweet, lightly fermented palm wine tapped from the high tops of palm trees.
- We had a 90-year-old neighbor whose six ‘kids’ would travel from all over the eastern U.S. to be there the day he tapped his first tree of the season.
- It is a milky substance that is harvested by tapping the tree, a process similar to the harvesting of maple syrup.
- Each family or group of families returned to a traditional location where they had stored utensils and had marked with an ax cut the trees they would tap.
- A typical drink is palm wine, fermented sap tapped from coconut palm fronds.
- In summer they might have found fresh honey in the woods produced by wild bees or perhaps tapped maple trees in spring to harvest sweet sap.
- A rubber tree can be tapped regularly throughout the year and the tree remains productive for 30 to 40 years.
- Each tapper will tap about 650 trees a day where they spent perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree.
- Maple tree growers tap into this stream for a crop of maple sap which is boiled off to procure a sweet syrup sought around the world.
- The trees are tapped for latex by cutting spiral grooves in the bark and inserting a spout with a cup for collection of the latex.
- They climbed trees to tap palm wine or fermented grain beers from harvest surpluses.
- Toddy, an alcoholic liquor, is made by tapping the tree, which is done by cutting off the tip of a flower stem.
2Exploit or draw a supply from (a resource) clients from industry seeking to tap Edinburgh's resources of expertise no object these magazines have tapped into a target market of consumers Example sentencesExamples - Most homes and businesses tap into the water system illegally and pay no fees currently.
- Along the way, we realized how many potential resources were not being tapped for student training in our province.
- Even with the electronic, sampling age in full swing, it's amazing that the art of mimicry still taps that transforming and ancient power.
- There's clearly a huge customer resource yet to be tapped; the question is how to go about it.
- The groundwater that is tapped into by wells on private lands is in fact a common resource, something nobody can effectively own.
- The magazine aims to tap into the mobile phone subculture which has developed during the last five years.
- So if, in the Northeast, there's an emergency, we have two million barrels that we can tap into.
- This facility will be demonstrating how the research and skills base of the city's university can be tapped to produce real business returns.
- Don't tap into their wireless bandwidth without asking.
- But before any life existed, there must have been an energy source that could be tapped by primitive life forms.
- The two-man crew has tapped into the oxygen supply of a docked cargo ship.
- We then tapped into the support from the Rural Fire Service.
- The heat can be tapped to provide hot water for laundry, kitchen or cleaning services.
- Germinating immediately, the seed sends out ‘rootlets’ to tap into the host tree's water supply.
- I was pretty good at it, though I say it myself, mainly as I soon tapped into the most effective teaching method for young learners - noise.
- You just can't ignore the dramatic way he and his party have tapped into a well of discontent in New Zealand - for better or worse.
- Foreign companies that thought they had tapped into one of the most profitable markets of the world will have to readjust their estimations.
- CNBC tapped into a gold mine, and the show developed such appeal that it began to affect the stock market on its own.
- But unlike many fantasy writers today, Tolkien really tapped into mythic roots.
- The city was able to tap into water from the nearby man-made Big Bear Lake to create its orange orchards.
Synonyms draw on, exploit, milk, make use of, put to use, use, utilize, open up, mine, turn to account - 2.1informal Obtain money or information from (someone)
he considered whom he could tap for information Example sentencesExamples - That may happen, but even if it does, they'll still have the fallback of being able to tap him for a few million when needs must.
- Fishmongers are another group of people who have a wealth of information waiting to be tapped by inquisitive customers, and they all seem eager to advise and assist.
- He, is an introspective artist whose success has left him in a lonely place, where livelihoods rest on his shoulders and old friends regularly tap him for money and favors.
- Tapping that information requires more analysts and translators.
- Pittsburgh officials must tap tax-exempt organizations for more money in lieu of taxes.
- Making our way to a city centre nightclub, the former frontman ordered the taxi driver to stop at a cash machine and tapped me for my last 100 euros.
- In the good old days you got the state to pay for your investment needs; now it is simply a case of tapping your biggest rival for the necessary funds.
- In the immediate aftermath of the events, the public may not have thought of libraries as a source to tap for relevant information.
- Naturally, one of the distinct pleasures of meeting her is tapping her for anecdotes of this bygone era.
- Why did we not see huge investors tap the banks for money?
- As for Paul himself, he is the oddball in his family whom they cannot quite work out, but tap for money as if he was a bank.
3Connect a device to (a telephone) so that conversation can be listened to secretly. the telephones were tapped by the state security police Example sentencesExamples - He denied that his country's police had been tapping the telephones of the South African cricket team during their tour.
- Their papers and computers were confiscated and, although they were released on bail, their telephones were tapped and they had to endure constant surveillance.
- His car is regularly followed, and his telephone tapped.
- He began to wonder if his telephone was being tapped.
- The devices were intended to tap phone lines used by the various governments, and were reportedly installed at the building's switchboard.
- At least, my information will confuse whoever is listening or tapping my phone.
- A Scanner is a device that is used to tap into cell phone conversations.
- Yet its outcome will determine your right to privacy from your freedom to avoid telemarketers to the Government's ability to tap into your conversations.
- Hackers can intercept our e-mails and tap our telephone calls.
- The police were given wider powers to tap phones, record other conversations and intercept mail, for periods of up to one year.
- We do not tap telephones or install eavesdropping equipment illegally.
- For really big cases, the agency buys expensive software from a telephone company to tap phones directly.
- The FBI's breakthrough came after phones were tapped, and conversations overheard about recruitment difficulties for the scam.
- Telephones are frequently tapped and mail interfered with.
- The authorities can now secretly tap into e-mails and mobile phone calls and track websites visited without the need for a judicial warrant.
- And it is likely that there will be an effort to tap your hard-wired telephone as well - (more on that in a bit).
- Better tap their mobile phones and keep an eye on their emails.
- Illegal tapping is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment.
- The secret police shadowed the activists and tapped their telephones.
- ‘We don't have the time or the manpower to be tapping and listening to everybody's phone,’ he says.
Synonyms listen in on/to, wiretap, eavesdrop on, spy on, monitor, overhear informal bug, snoop on, get on record 4Cut a thread in (something) to accept a screw. on most vices, the metal jaws are drilled and tapped to accept screws Example sentencesExamples - The Miniloaders sport a Monte Carlo-style stock and are drilled and tapped to accept a scope mount base.
- I've urged the company to drill and tap the receiver for a Lyman or Williams receiver peep sight.
- The stud is drilled and tapped to accept the front action screw.
- It required only about 30 minutes to locate, drill and tap, deburr and then mount the new sight.
- All of the guns are factory drilled and tapped for tang sights from either Lyman or Marble.
- No sights of any kind are provided; however, the barrel is drilled and tapped for a Weaver base, and dovetailed for a front sight.
- Why the company didn't drill and tap the new model for both standard receiver and tang sights, defeats me.
- While we had the spindle out of the planer, we decided to drill and tap the other two sides of the square cutter head, so four blades could be mounted if needed.
- Drilling and tapping the tough steel of a receiver, while keeping the holes straight and aligned, is a task for a good machinist.
- For this I had to drill holes in the frame and tap them so the screws turn in the frame.
- The simplest design is to bore a ‘T’ and then at each opening tap threads to hold the transducer, piston guide and PEEK tube connector.
- With the receiver drilled and tapped, and the barrel seat located, the next step was to make a takedown screw.
- There's also no need to drill and tap the receiver.
- It's also drilled and tapped to accept a tang-mounted aperture sight.
- I well remember what a tedious job it was to drill and tap a rifle receiver for a scope base, but tang sights often used existing holes and could be installed with ease.
- Early models were not factory drilled and tapped, but it was a simple matter to do so.
- The standard 1-degree indexing table allows easy access to complex prismatic parts or to drill and tap holes in one setup.
- The T3's receiver is also drilled and tapped to accept other popular bases and rings.
- In addition, it's also drilled and tapped for universal scope mounting blocks.
- What's not obvious from the pictures is the handguard is drilled and tapped in a number places for other accessory mounts including sling swivels.
Phrases 1Ready to be poured from a tap. the hard water most of us have on tap Example sentencesExamples - While each restaurant carries the 110 beer minimum (30 on tap, 80 or more in bottles), no two menus are alike.
- We didn't come across a single bar that didn't have at least ten different brews on tap.
- This head is always present when poured the correct way either on tap or using a can containing a ‘widget’.
- At 5 p.m., beginning this week, the bar menu starts, served upstairs in a cozy nook outfitted with a small bar, a handful of seats, a chalkboard menu, and beer on tap.
- Initially the emphasis was on getting water on tap to rural households, now Group Water Schemes must ensure that they provide their members with a wholesome and safe drinking water.
- There are Japanese beers available made from rice at the liquor store if you need that brew taste, but it's unlikely that your run-of-the-mill bar has Japanese imports on tap.
- They have beer on tap too and a vast selection of vodkas.
- For those who'd rather drink their dessert, there are 48 beers on tap and bottles sold by the bucket.
- The bar has some great beers on tap but get the staff to mix you one of their fruity daiquiris and you will be back for more.
- Australian technology and expertise will play a key role in a multi-billion dollar scheme to provide Manila's population of 11 million with drinking water on tap.
Synonyms on draught, cask-conditioned, real-ale, from barrels, not bottled/canned - 1.1informal Freely available whenever needed.
trained staff are on tap from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Example sentencesExamples - This juxtaposition seems topsy-turvy: education should be on tap and drugs should be difficult to obtain.
- It is lucky to have, in addition, thermal power on tap, thanks to its unique geological structure, which produces both volcanoes and glaciers and some of the most dramatic scenery anywhere in the world.
- Whenever I feel everything's getting on top of me, I just pop in there and every kind of support and counselling is on tap.
- The catering wagon has been amazing because we get food on tap all the time.
- If that means offering these men positions at the Army War College or some other institution to keep their knowledge on tap, then I think we ought to do those things.
- There is plenty of power on tap under the bonnet, the i-CTDi unit capable of turning on some real sporty driving, while bags of torque delivers instant acceleration, something not always available when needed from some diesel engines.
- He can afford a private hospital room with edible meals and the best specialists on tap charging him huge fees - but there is little doubt that he would prefer to be in rude health and spending his money otherwise.
- With plenty of World Bank money on tap, the government borrowed and spent like a drunken sailor, artificially raising living standards and burying Hungary in debt.
- On this sort of trip, you can expect all the trimmings: a four-seater aircraft with a cruising speed of 450 mph, reclining leather seats, champagne and caviar on tap and a shiny black car to whisk you to your destination.
- In the past the producer was simply required to make a batch of programmes in an integrated factory, within which a large range of back-up services were available on tap.
Synonyms on hand, to hand, at hand, available, ready, handy, accessible, obtainable, in reserve, standing by - 1.2North American informal On schedule to occur.
the first space walk is on tap for December Example sentencesExamples - He already has at least three fund-raisers on tap in the new year.
- A major march is on tap for August 6 in Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to mobilize support for extension of some of the Act's provisions.
- Now checking in with the world of entertainment, what's on tap, Brooke?
- But the real drama is on tap for tomorrow, when the mother of his accuser is due to take the stand.
- Lots of future campaign speculation, loads of laughs, food and music were on tap for the gathering of women movers and shakers.
- Our top story today of top stories, coronary bypass surgery on tap for Bill Clinton.
- Numerous other parties are on tap, many catering to the Hollywood set.
- Also on tap are the launch of a public diplomacy initiative to improve the U.S. image in the Muslim world and a possible trip to the Middle East.
- It's not 1989 in the Middle East, and a series of velvet revolutions aren't on tap for the immediate future.
- Regardless of how he fares on Friday, he has another fight on tap for the fall, though he's a bit less pumped up about that one.
Derivatives adjective I thought of all the electricity that was used to pump the water into overhead tanks so that they could flow from these tapless spouts. Example sentencesExamples - This class features the step with adjustable heights and a tapless style of choreography for a natural flow.
- It further comprises a tapless feedback circuit for providing the feedback signal.
- Water spouted out of the tapless pipes as if they were perennial springs, leading to enormous wastage.
- Before you know it, you will have electrifying combinations for a fun-filled tapless step class.
adjective The environmentalist opposition to ANWR drilling should probably continue just so that ANWR remains effectively as a national petroleum reserve tappable when oil gets scarce. Example sentencesExamples - The cellphone's new features include an agenda view, tappable menus, a shortcut command bar, improved privacy, quick duplication of Address Book entries, faster HotSync operation, infrared (IR) HotSync operation, Euro symbol support and a ‘snooze’ button.
- There's an innate tappable sympathy for the underdog, in sports as well as investment.
- If the Federal Communications Commission adopts the proposal, Internet Service Providers and nearly all VoIP companies will have to design their systems to be tappable.
- By making it tappable by law enforcement, they're basically opening it up to hackers as well, since anything they do to avoid real security and encryption means the data will be less secure overall.
Origin Old English tæppa 'peg for the vent-hole of a cask', tæppian 'provide (a cask) with a stopper', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tap and German Zapfen (nouns). A tap was originally a stopper for a cask. It controlled the flow of liquid, so the same word came to be used for the fitting which controlled the flow of water elsewhere. Drink from a cask that was ready for immediate consumption was on tap. From the 1860s tap began to be used in reference to listening in secretly to a telegraph and then a telephone, from the idea of ‘siphoning off’ information. Tap in the sense of ‘strike lightly’ is a completely different word, which probably represents an imitation of the action in its sound.
Rhymes bap, cap, chap, clap, dap, entrap, enwrap, flap, frap, gap, giftwrap, hap, knap, lap, Lapp, map, nap, nappe, pap, rap, sap, schappe, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap, yap, zap verbtapped, tapping, taps taptæp [with object]1Strike with a quick light blow or blows. one of my staff tapped me on the shoulder Example sentencesExamples - I exclaimed coming up and tapping my older sister on the shoulder.
- My finger tapped the ‘J’ key over and over, but not hard enough to make a letter appear on the screen.
- Make sure the rooting hormone covers the part of the stem where you have removed the foliage, then tap gently to remove the excess.
- When paintings are finished, porcelain slip is poured onto bat and tapped gently to remove any air bubbles.
- Fill the spaces between plants with soil mix, tapping gently.
- Gently tap to eliminate excess spice mixture and then coat uniformly with bread crumbs.
- Turn box upside down and tap lightly on the bowl to remove excess chocolate.
- She even smiled when he tapped her on the shoulder and held a grubby newspaper cutting under her nose.
- She taps the ‘send’ button and I hear the computer printer crackle in the kitchen behind us as it prints out the order ticket.
- I tapped him on the shoulder and, using my best traveller-sign-language, indicated that he had dropped them.
- The leaves of a tall oak tree tapped against the tiny glass window.
- He had some good moves and clearly fancied himself, but I tapped him with a left to the body and he dropped his hands, so I sent in a right hand and from then it was just a matter of time.
- To pollinate tomatoes, tap on the bamboo stakes once in the morning and once at night when you notice the petals of the flower are curved back.
- Just the wind was hitting the tree branches outside which tapped at the window, giving the light from the front garden gate foul shadows.
- With lifeless voices, singers march through the streets, striking bells and tapping on drums made of buffalo skin.
- He removed his own spectacles and tapped at the lenses with his gloved finger.
- Every few inches he would tap lightly and then listen with the stethoscope.
- When the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped, it is done.
- The butler stood aside and tapped on the door four times to signal our arrival.
- He didn't want to disturb her parents, so he climbed the tree and tapped on her glass.
Synonyms knock, rap, strike, beat, drum, peck touch, pat, nudge, strike lightly, slap lightly, jab, poke, dig, shove, hit - 1.1 Strike (something) against something else with a quick light blow or blows.
Gloria was tapping her feet in time to the music Example sentencesExamples - The latter was tapping her old, brittle foot impatiently against the cold marble of the palace floor.
- With a slight laugh, she held up her mocha and tapped the cup against his.
- Fill pan with cheesecake mixture, tap on counter and let stand for 10 minutes to allow air bubbles to rise to surface.
- Her hands slowed down and she tapped her long manicured fingers against the desk, making a click, click sound with every tap.
- She was tapping her bright green fingernails against the desk.
- She tapped the small wooden box against her palm and stared at the orange dust.
- He raps his sticks together, then taps his cymbals in a way that recalls the playing knives and forks on the kitchen table.
- He dropped out the old magazine and tapped his new one on his helmet, to get any sand out.
- The one that spoke wore his strawberry blond hair in a braid and was tapping a wickedly curved sword against his shoulder, looking none too impressed with the man below him.
- Drinking glasses filled to varying levels with water and tapped lightly with a teaspoon or cake fork can produce a beautiful tune.
- He reached out and tapped my nose with his finger in a loving way.
- Did you know that papal death is officially determined by the Cardinal Chamberlain by gently tapping the late Pope's head thrice with a silver hammer?
- He taps his cue stick against the table edge, thinking.
- I tapped my mechanical pencil against my desk and sighed deeply, glancing at the clock from the corner of my eye.
- He shifted slightly, but his foot tapped my ankle, causing me to yelp.
- He sat staring out the window with his elbows on the arm rests and his thumbs under his chin, slowly tapping his two index fingers together as he planned his next step.
- She told him as her fingers gently tapped on her half empty coffee cup.
- She absently tapped her artistry pencil on the sketch paper as she stared out onto the whitened garden with unseeing eyes.
- If you did then they came round with a ruler and tapped you on the wrist.
- He offered him a beer from the six-pack dangling on his finger, then tapped his can against Wylie's.
- 1.2tap something out Produce (a rhythm) with a series of quick light blows on a surface.
drums that tapped out a rumba beat Example sentencesExamples - A string quartet was playing merrily in the corner and hundreds of feet were tapping out uneven rhythms on the mosaic marble floor.
- She tore her eyes from them for a moment to spy the bodhrán player in the tree, tapping out her rhythm with her eyes closed, not noticing the spy amongst them.
- I drummed my fingers lightly on the green felt of the table, tapping out a little rhythm.
- He began tapping a tempo out on the woodblock and nodded his head to the tune.
- "Information," He taps the syllables out soundlessly against his temple, "You see, is the key."
- He hummed along with the radio and tapped the beat out on the steering wheel.
- Emily and Anna sang along with the radio with Emily tapping the beat out on the steering wheel occasionally.
- If you have an elementary or intermediate student who falls into this category, you might have her practice hearing the beginning of the piece in her mind consistently in the lesson before beginning to play, even tapping out the rhythm for you to demonstrate the tempo.
- His left hand tapped out a mindless rhythm on his thigh.
- 1.3 Write or enter (something) using a keyboard or keypad.
he tapped out a few words on the keyboard Example sentencesExamples - Glancing at her, I saw her studying her phone furiously and tapping a message out.
- She muttered to herself and swam slowly over to the wall control panel, tapping in the correct key code on the fluorescent buttons to make the water vanish.
- Keen to dampen down any rumours and to reassure staff that all's well, he tapped out a hastily written memo to his staff using his Blackberry.
- If you have a short, sharp message to send, you can tap it out on the phone.
- At the moment (for me, at least), this necessitates ripping out the necessary HTML and PHP from one of my existing pages, and hastily tapping something out in Notepad.
- She stands at a terminal, tapping things into the keyboard.
- When the user is building a trail, he names it, inserts the name in his code book, and taps it out on his keyboard.
- And we don't think the fighter pilots will be tapping IMs on keyboards.
- She said that the offence was introduced to deter telegraphers from interfering with messages as they tapped them out and was enshrined in law in the Wireless Telegraphy Act dating back to the turn of the 20th century.
- The student had tapped her name and mobile phone number into his phone and arranged to meet him for lunch before she left.
- I do, however, have a reason for not writing, a reason that I can express in two horrific words, words I wince at even as my trembling fingers tap them out on the keyboard: FINAL EXAMS.
- I found that, once I got the hang of the technique, speaking messages was much faster than tapping them out.
- His days as a ‘war correspondent’ come through ‘codes tapped out in the dark’.
- To use them, we have to remember a four-digit PIN and then - my brain is exhausted at the mental gymnastics even thinking about it - tap the number into a keypad.
- She did the same to the wire leads, making sure that they didn't get tangled up, before she tapped a command out on the terminal's interface to get things started.
- But he carried on regardless: tapping his column out on a typewriter in his apartment 15 floors above Central Park.
- First she wrote it on paper, then she tap tapped it into my laptop.
- The electrical surge's frequency was tapped out via Morse code and then transformed into a vibration that eventually came out as sound.
- He tapped something into a keyboard and a map appeared on the glass, with one green dot and one blue dot.
- But then again, we're stuck at a PC tapping away all day, while he is doing a job he no doubt loves, where people pay him for his silliness.
2tap someone upBritish informal Approach (a sports player) unlawfully with a view to signing them to another club while they are still under contract with their current one. 3US informal Designate or select (someone) for a task or honour, especially membership of an organization or committee. he had been tapped earlier to serve in Costa Rica Example sentencesExamples - Lin is a respected corporate leader who has long been tapped for the economics portfolio, but declined to serve in past KMT cabinets.
- But an even higher profile role came in 1987, when Ronald Reagan tapped him to be chairman of the Federal Reserve.
- The following year she was tapped as its commentator/model supervisor.
- The President tapped him last year be the Afghan ambassador, and he's shuttled between Kabul and Washington ever since.
- Italian state radio said Italy might tap the Foreign Minister for the commission post.
- He was tapped this year as police chief in Miami, which city officials hope to make the headquarters for the FTAA.
- He was tapped then as a possible future leader, a feat he achieved within 20 years.
- For the second time in a week, he has tapped a White House insider to fill a high-powered cabinet post.
- Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey showed up for court duty in Chicago today and was tapped to sit on a jury in a murder case.
- I was tapped by Charlie Mitten at Newcastle United and in those days you had to put in a transfer request.
- In third grade, I was tapped for the role of Martha Washington in the school play.
- It is absurd that a man that proved to be a failure as the education minister is to be tapped as a ‘promising’ candidate for the parliamentary election.
- Did you know, when he was tapped for the Vice President position, he was registered as a voter in Texas?
- They were tapped to lead a mission to rescue or recover.
- But with extensive prior experience in camping, she was tapped to assist with the development of this new program.
- He said he is especially happy that Bush has tapped William Pryor, the former attorney general of Alabama.
- Louisiana's governor has tapped the former CNN chairman to help lead the rebuilding.
- When George W. Bush became president, he tapped Powell for the top job.
- She tapped the Company to provide the finger foods and yummy sweets for the gathering.
- He formed what was essentially a war cabinet, tapping prominent Republicans Henry Stimson and Frank Knox to run the War and Navy Departments.
nounPlural taps taptæp 1A quick light blow, or the sound of such a blow. there was a sharp tap at the door Example sentencesExamples - Once you've poured the mousse into the oiled moulds, give each one a sharp tap on the surface to knock out any overlarge air bubbles, cover and leave to set.
- She started toward her bed, but just as she took her first step, a sharp tap sounded at the French doors that led to the terrace outside her window.
- She jumped at the light tap on her shoulder, eyes widening in panic as she spun around quickly to stare into Sakura's amused dark eyes.
- Suddenly she felt a tap on the shoulder and she broke eye contact with him to see an elderly woman handing her a handkerchief.
- The system will also be an advantage in that pregnant mothers records will be monitored for years and doctors will be able to get their history at the tap of a key on computer.
- Despite one Newry player lying injured and being attended to by two team members he took the quick tap and scored.
- Tapping the clock illuminates the display; a tap also turns off the alarm when it is ascending through its squeaky crescendo.
- It was coming up to midday when I heard a light tap on my door, followed by my Mom's voice.
- At this point, she felt a quick tap on her shoulder, and turned to face the person.
- Whereas staff were once forced to walk to colleagues' desks to pass on information, the e-mail revolution now means much of this can be done in a tap of the computer keyboard.
- I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Chad.
- I listened to the tap of her feet against the wooden floor, and could have sworn that it matched my own heart's beat.
- Her micro-course crème brûlées were faultless, the caramel cracking obligingly with the lightest tap of a spoon, the base just on the oozing side of set.
- All versions of the FTT use a tapping device that records the number of taps performed by a subject over a series of ten-second intervals.
- Remove the finished dome from the shaft with a light tap on the workbench.
- I just started flipping through the channels when there was a light tap at the door.
- A light tap at the door announced the arrival of the servant.
- A quick tap on the first door to his right was all he gave before pushing it open and entering.
- A light tap on his shoulder makes him turn around.
- Again, as the night before, there came a light tap at her door.
Synonyms touch, pat, nudge, light blow, light slap, jab, poke, dig, shove, pressure 2mass noun Tap dancing. a rhythm much used in tap Example sentencesExamples - Born in Rochester, New York, she started dancing when she was about seven, studying jazz and tap.
- The impressive cast of 18 dancers and drummers combine pantsula and tap with Tswana and gumboot dancing and the rhythmic beat of drums.
- When she eventually opened a dance studio, she hadn't heard of rhythm tap.
- They are paired with six expert young dancers who each dance in a particular style - bhangra, street, musical theatre, pop, Irish dancing and tap.
- His codified syllabi for tap and jazz made a major impact on the way these forms were taught internationally.
- Soon after she got a job as a dancing assistant in tap at Arthur Murray Studios.
- They don't reproduce the movie's numbers, although there are some overlaps: some tap, some ballet steps, some all-purpose chorus dancing.
- Still, he says his classes in tap, jazz, and especially ballet greatly enhanced his athletic skills.
- In some ways, of course, the return of tap signaled a kind of exhaustion in the choreographic impulse on Broadway.
- Yet I'm still not an accomplished dancer after six years of tap and jazz.
- "I don't want to hear five years from now, ten years from now, that tap is a dying art form," he says.
- She is a member of the Guildford School of Acting learning drama, musical tap, jazz dance and group singing.
- New trends are emerging - from the way tap is taught, danced, and choreographed, to the places where it is seen and heard.
- For a weekly fee of $650, each dancer gets a morning of either jazz, ballet or tap, followed by an afternoon of their own choice of dance curriculum.
- Some of these classes are jazz and tap, but ballet is the main focus.
- He is first and foremost a classical dancer, but this essay into the realms of musical comedy shows that classical training is no hindrance to modern dance and tap.
- He and I danced the gypsy tap, the mambo and the samba, just as we had in my garage.
- Have you heard of any good dance programs in California colleges that incorporate tap?
- She grew up near Wilmington, Delaware, where she studied ballet and tap.
- Dance students of all ages will perform a variety of song and dance including tap, classical ballet, jazz, national character and expressive dance.
- 2.1count noun A piece of metal attached to the toe and heel of a tap dancer's shoe to make a tapping sound.
Example sentencesExamples - They were carrying canes and doing a sort of tap-dance, minus the taps.
- They have a metal tap on the toe/ball of the foot section, and another on the heel.
- This combination shoe has at a minimum a semi-flexible arch made of hard rubber, flexible inserts on the sides of the shoe upper above the arch and a hard leather sole and heel that can accept taps for tap dancing.
- Popular in 19th-century minstrel shows, versions such as ‘buck-and-wing’ (danced vigorously in wooden-soled shoes) and ‘soft-shoe’ (shoes) developed as separate techniques; by 1925 they had merged, and metal taps were attached to shoe heels and toes to produce a more pronounced sound.
3tapsUS treated as singular or plural A bugle call for lights to be put out in army quarters. Example sentencesExamples - At taps, he personally inspects each man with standards that would make a recruit company commander flinch, says goodnight and turns out their light.
- As the story goes, the General was not pleased with the call for Extinguish Lights feeling that the call was too formal to signal the day's end and with the help of the brigade bugler, wrote Taps to honor his men while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, following the Seven Days' battle.
- Taps began as a revision to the signal for Extinguish Lights (Lights Out) at the end of the day.
- After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call.
- 3.1 A bugle call sounded at a military funeral.
Example sentencesExamples - "Facing critical shortage of musicians for military funerals, the Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays taps by itself as the player holds it to his lips."
- Bugles sound taps for the police persons, firemen and city and government and at times white doves are released at mourning services that bid farewell to groups.
- The manual for Military Infantry Drill published in 1891 made taps mandatory at military funerals and playing taps remains an honour today.
- He and his fellow buglers have the unfortunate and often daunting task of playing ‘Taps’ at the memorial ceremonies for the division, leaving at a moment's notice at times to play the final respects for fallen comrades and those attending the services.
- The reading of the names ended at 11.20 am; a bugler played taps.
- No bugle is to sound taps for his military triumphs.
- There aren't enough buglers to play taps for dead veterans, so the Pentagon has authorized a digital machine to play it instead.
- The US Department of Defense is studying the use of a digital bugle to render taps at veterans' military funerals.
- 3.2British (in the Guide movement) a closing song sung at an evening camp fire or at the end of a meeting.
Example sentencesExamples - Our unit has made a tradition of humming taps and having the girl that received the Good Turn squeeze recite the Promise.
- Seeing so many nationalities represented at the ceremonies, and hearing the World Song, Our Chalet song and Taps sung in so many different languages was a very moving experience.
- Each week we find ourselves constantly scrambling to fit the opening, an active game, all the program work plus a campfire and taps into a two hour window.
Derivatives noun The two rhythm tappers, now both 29, make a handsome couple. Example sentencesExamples - Each ‘Kerasudha’ unit should have at least 100 trees, which will give direct employment to 10 toddy tappers, three women who process the drink and several others who market the produce.
- Drawing on evidence from female villagers, one male survivor and a former Malayan police officer, he claims that all of those who died were unarmed rubber tappers and tin miners from the Chinese ethnic minority.
- This year's Living Treasure in American Dance Award was presented to 92-year-old tap dancer Leonard Reed, inventor of the Shim Sham Shimmy, now a standard step for all tappers.
- When the golden age of Hollywood musicals faded, two young tappers appeared on television variety shows with their father as Hines, Hines, and Dad.
Origin Middle English: from Old French taper, or of imitative origin; compare with clap1 and rap1. nountæptap 1A device by which a flow of liquid or gas from a pipe or container can be controlled. Example sentencesExamples - After a minute, I had calmed down, and I rinsed my hands in the cold water from the tap, splashing water onto my face.
- The water from the bathroom tap was painfully cold.
- I got the watering can and filled it with cold water from the tap and I walked outside.
- Oil crooks there and elsewhere can find an unguarded length of pipe and make their own tap.
- Some critics have also found it ironic that many people who purchase bottled water end up refilling the containers from a tap.
- Look for a model with digital output temperature control, which delivers consistently hot water from the tap, regardless of flow rate.
- The leaflet also urges people to keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of running the tap until it is cold, because running the tap for one minute wastes six litres of water.
- Go fill a bucket or two from the cold tap now, before it's too late.
- He heard her turning the tap on, pouring cold water into the kettle.
- Boil for one minute, then drain through a sieve and rinse under the cold tap.
- When you turn on the tap, unfiltered water flows through the faucet head at a full-pressure flow as with any conventional faucet.
- He pulled himself up and stumbled to the bathroom, where he turned on the cold tap and collapsed at the bottom of the shower, barely awake.
- Perforations lead into a hollow stem which is controlled by a tap permitting small quantities of champagne to be withdrawn from the inverted bottle without the remainder losing its sparkle.
- For a long time it controlled the tap on how much surplus oil was entering the market.
- The water must be freshly boiled, from the cold tap.
- I shoved it into the sink, turned on the cold tap and let icy water wash over fabric.
- There was an area with a concrete floor, a tin bath, a copper, a sink and a cold tap.
- She turned the tap and splashed cold water onto her face.
- Before hopping my way unsteadily to the bathroom where I managed to bend myself in ways I never thought possible to get my foot into the basin and under the cold tap!
- They have control of the financial tap that nourishes them, and they will not easily give up power.
Synonyms valve, spout, stopcock, cock, spile - 1.1British An electrical connection made to some point between the end terminals of a transformer coil or other component.
Example sentencesExamples - By placing a tap in the primary winding, we could change the turns ratio so that with 456 volts input we could still get 120 volts output.
- Loop length, the presence of load coil, bridge tap and wideband noise can affect DSL performance adversely.
- So you'd have to hold on to the tap, and drop in the transformer plugged into an extension lead from your hallway.
- The power system doesn't like it but it compensates for it by changing the tap on the transformer.
- This power tap is connected to the expansion-slot rocker power switch which screws into a free PCI backpanel.
- Thyristor-assisted tap changers use thyristors to take the on-load current while the main contacts change over from one tap to the next.
2A device connected to a telephone used for listening secretly to someone's conversations. Example sentencesExamples - It, theoretically, allowed for a certain degree of scrambling that would be too low tech for most agencies to hack into with placing an actual physical tap on the phone; and it was the physical access to corridor twelve that made this method of communication the most secure thing they had.
- "We intercepted a message on a wire tap that someone was coming here tonight - to your house."
- I have a police scanner and a tap on the police computers and phone lines.
- The phone tap that had been covertly installed into the their phones was working perfectly, broadcasting the conversation directly into a control room located deep within the recesses of his home.
- Is that because it would have revealed a tap on his phone, a tap on his cell phone and the GPS locator?
- "But I have reason to believe now that there was a tap on not only these phones, but my line back at the loft, too."
- Check it out, but be careful leaving comments - it won't be long before the Department of Homeland Security has a tap on his modem.
Synonyms listening device, wiretap, wire, bug, bugging device, hidden microphone, receiver - 2.1 An act of listening secretly to someone's telephone conversation.
Example sentencesExamples - Essentially, 59 % of Americans approve of letting law enforcement monitor e-mails in a manner akin to a phone tap and only as regulated by law.
- It provides a great deal of ‘mobility’, as discussed by him in his press conference, since you would be sure of continuing a tap even if the subject moved to a new phone.
- So far, he has done precisely nothing - despite, as the telephone tap makes clear, having first-class intelligence.
- When a novel phone number places or receives an international call, that call is automatically recorded, and a tap stays on this line until the statistical analysis indicates that it is likely not a number of interest.
- Listening in on the tap, a man laughed, putting his head set down.
- He was found guilty on Monday of disclosing information, documents and details from phone taps in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
- It was the first-ever tap of a private computer network under a 1968 crime act that set legal guidelines for wiretaps.
3An instrument for cutting a threaded hole in a material. Example sentencesExamples - Figure 31 shows the two main styles of tap for making internal threads in wood.
- A bottoming tap is never used to cut threads in an unthreaded hole, as the cutting edges lack the taper required to successfully start into such a hole.
- Making threads in wood usually was done with a matched set of hand tools a steel or iron tap for cutting internal spiral threads into a hole in a block of wood, and a screw box for cutting external spiral threads around a wooden rod
- Page 233 shows three smaller taps (minus guide plates) for about two-inch diameter threads.
- This is a hard narrow cone-shaped tool resembling a thread tap, except it has rough reverse threads on it.
- The Heiner screw box and its original tap are for threads of two-inch nominal diameter with two and a half threads per inch.
- Mount the oversize bushing tap in any tap handle, apply cutting oil and re-tap the grip frame bushing holes.
- Nowadays, most tool purchases involve replacing the expendable items such as drill bits, sanding belts and specialty taps and anything else that wears out.
- The surgeon uses a reamer and threaded tap to drill a hole to hold the titanium cage containing the bone graft.
- The ‘choke tube thread cleaner’ not only removes all the accumulated crud from the barrel threads, but also functions as a large tap to restore damaged threads.
4British A taproom. Example sentencesExamples - The tap was a veritable hub of activity and human drama.
verbtæptap [with object]1Draw liquid through the tap or spout of (a cask, barrel, or other container) bragging of tests they had aced and kegs they had tapped Example sentencesExamples - How do you tap a full barrel that is laying on its side?
- The early closing time of pubs meant that carousers were forced to gather at dusk in private homes, where the host would tap a barrel.
- The event proceeded smoothly and the Keg was eventually tapped by two executives of the Federation of Students.
- Barrels of beers await to be tapped by revellers here.
- This reality was imposed on the citizens of Vratza who can now only freely wash or drink tapped water four hours a night.
- To the back of Adian lay a bar, with flasks and wooden kegs that were tapped for liquid stacked in every available place.
- ‘Born-on’ dates on kegs will be logged when beer is delivered and again when tapped.
- When we get back the New Belgium kegs get tapped and we start getting primed for the night.
- Back at the ranch, burgers and dogs are fired up, a keg of Old Dominion Pale Ale is tapped and points are tallied.
- And if you have a truly artisan brewery, the taste of the brew may vary from keg to keg, depending on when it was brewed and how long it has been tapped.
- But by the grace of God everyone stepped away from the bar and I was able to get the keg tapped, which now made me the most popular person in all the land.
- The keg will be tapped at 6 PM with wine, other beverages and snacks provided.
Synonyms draw liquid from, drain, bleed, milk - 1.1 Draw (liquid) from a cask, barrel, or other container.
the butlers were tapping new ale Example sentencesExamples - The water needed to be tapped from a reliable spring four miles away raising the cost of the scheme to £3,000 - to be paid by the householders.
- Ferro cement tanks are being used in some cases while most of the units have used high density plastic tanks for storing the rain water tapped through the method.
- Dropsy was treated by bleeding, tapping, and plantain and liverwort.
- The deep Israeli wells in the Jordan Valley have good water quality since they tap the Lower Cenomanian aquifer system.
- President-elect George W. Bush has argued that the oil can be tapped without killing wildlife or marring the environment.
- The divided and conquered nature of the country has made it easy for oil to be tapped without raising the ire of countries worldwide.
- Perennial shrubs often develop a dimorphic root system, where deeper roots tap a more reliable water source at depth.
- This is not to say that if we tap and drain a deposit, it will somehow mysteriously fill up again.
Synonyms pour, pour out, draw off, siphon off, pump out, decant, extract, withdraw, remove - 1.2 Draw sap from (a tree) by cutting into it.
Example sentencesExamples - We had a 90-year-old neighbor whose six ‘kids’ would travel from all over the eastern U.S. to be there the day he tapped his first tree of the season.
- Each tapper will tap about 650 trees a day where they spent perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree.
- A rubber tree can be tapped regularly throughout the year and the tree remains productive for 30 to 40 years.
- Between 1910 and 1920, for example, the number of trees tapped for resin increased from 260,000 to 2,135,000.
- Maple tree growers tap into this stream for a crop of maple sap which is boiled off to procure a sweet syrup sought around the world.
- They climbed trees to tap palm wine or fermented grain beers from harvest surpluses.
- The trees are tapped for latex by cutting spiral grooves in the bark and inserting a spout with a cup for collection of the latex.
- A typical drink is palm wine, fermented sap tapped from coconut palm fronds.
- Toddy, an alcoholic liquor, is made by tapping the tree, which is done by cutting off the tip of a flower stem.
- Local bars in some towns and villages will also sell poyo the sweet, lightly fermented palm wine tapped from the high tops of palm trees.
- In summer they might have found fresh honey in the woods produced by wild bees or perhaps tapped maple trees in spring to harvest sweet sap.
- It is a milky substance that is harvested by tapping the tree, a process similar to the harvesting of maple syrup.
- My mother did rubber latex tapping for a meagre wage to feed us.
- With the warm days and cold nights, maple trees are tapped for flowing sap.
- An unusual profession on the islands is calou (palm wine) tapping.
- Each family or group of families returned to a traditional location where they had stored utensils and had marked with an ax cut the trees they would tap.
2Exploit or draw a supply from (a resource) clients from industry seeking to tap Philadelphia's resources of expertise no object these magazines have tapped into a target market of consumers Example sentencesExamples - But unlike many fantasy writers today, Tolkien really tapped into mythic roots.
- Most homes and businesses tap into the water system illegally and pay no fees currently.
- But before any life existed, there must have been an energy source that could be tapped by primitive life forms.
- The city was able to tap into water from the nearby man-made Big Bear Lake to create its orange orchards.
- Along the way, we realized how many potential resources were not being tapped for student training in our province.
- Even with the electronic, sampling age in full swing, it's amazing that the art of mimicry still taps that transforming and ancient power.
- Foreign companies that thought they had tapped into one of the most profitable markets of the world will have to readjust their estimations.
- CNBC tapped into a gold mine, and the show developed such appeal that it began to affect the stock market on its own.
- The two-man crew has tapped into the oxygen supply of a docked cargo ship.
- The groundwater that is tapped into by wells on private lands is in fact a common resource, something nobody can effectively own.
- Germinating immediately, the seed sends out ‘rootlets’ to tap into the host tree's water supply.
- Don't tap into their wireless bandwidth without asking.
- You just can't ignore the dramatic way he and his party have tapped into a well of discontent in New Zealand - for better or worse.
- The heat can be tapped to provide hot water for laundry, kitchen or cleaning services.
- The magazine aims to tap into the mobile phone subculture which has developed during the last five years.
- This facility will be demonstrating how the research and skills base of the city's university can be tapped to produce real business returns.
- I was pretty good at it, though I say it myself, mainly as I soon tapped into the most effective teaching method for young learners - noise.
- So if, in the Northeast, there's an emergency, we have two million barrels that we can tap into.
- We then tapped into the support from the Rural Fire Service.
- There's clearly a huge customer resource yet to be tapped; the question is how to go about it.
Synonyms draw on, exploit, milk, make use of, put to use, use, utilize, open up, mine, turn to account - 2.1informal Obtain money or information from (someone)
he considered whom he could tap for information Example sentencesExamples - In the immediate aftermath of the events, the public may not have thought of libraries as a source to tap for relevant information.
- Fishmongers are another group of people who have a wealth of information waiting to be tapped by inquisitive customers, and they all seem eager to advise and assist.
- Pittsburgh officials must tap tax-exempt organizations for more money in lieu of taxes.
- He, is an introspective artist whose success has left him in a lonely place, where livelihoods rest on his shoulders and old friends regularly tap him for money and favors.
- Why did we not see huge investors tap the banks for money?
- Naturally, one of the distinct pleasures of meeting her is tapping her for anecdotes of this bygone era.
- As for Paul himself, he is the oddball in his family whom they cannot quite work out, but tap for money as if he was a bank.
- Tapping that information requires more analysts and translators.
- In the good old days you got the state to pay for your investment needs; now it is simply a case of tapping your biggest rival for the necessary funds.
- That may happen, but even if it does, they'll still have the fallback of being able to tap him for a few million when needs must.
- Making our way to a city centre nightclub, the former frontman ordered the taxi driver to stop at a cash machine and tapped me for my last 100 euros.
3Connect a device to (a telephone) so that conversation can be listened to secretly. the telephones were tapped by the state security police Example sentencesExamples - The devices were intended to tap phone lines used by the various governments, and were reportedly installed at the building's switchboard.
- Hackers can intercept our e-mails and tap our telephone calls.
- He began to wonder if his telephone was being tapped.
- The FBI's breakthrough came after phones were tapped, and conversations overheard about recruitment difficulties for the scam.
- The secret police shadowed the activists and tapped their telephones.
- The police were given wider powers to tap phones, record other conversations and intercept mail, for periods of up to one year.
- ‘We don't have the time or the manpower to be tapping and listening to everybody's phone,’ he says.
- Their papers and computers were confiscated and, although they were released on bail, their telephones were tapped and they had to endure constant surveillance.
- Telephones are frequently tapped and mail interfered with.
- For really big cases, the agency buys expensive software from a telephone company to tap phones directly.
- At least, my information will confuse whoever is listening or tapping my phone.
- He denied that his country's police had been tapping the telephones of the South African cricket team during their tour.
- His car is regularly followed, and his telephone tapped.
- Better tap their mobile phones and keep an eye on their emails.
- A Scanner is a device that is used to tap into cell phone conversations.
- And it is likely that there will be an effort to tap your hard-wired telephone as well - (more on that in a bit).
- The authorities can now secretly tap into e-mails and mobile phone calls and track websites visited without the need for a judicial warrant.
- We do not tap telephones or install eavesdropping equipment illegally.
- Illegal tapping is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment.
- Yet its outcome will determine your right to privacy from your freedom to avoid telemarketers to the Government's ability to tap into your conversations.
Synonyms listen in on, listen in to, wiretap, eavesdrop on, spy on, monitor, overhear 4Cut a thread in (something) to accept a screw. Example sentencesExamples - For this I had to drill holes in the frame and tap them so the screws turn in the frame.
- The T3's receiver is also drilled and tapped to accept other popular bases and rings.
- It's also drilled and tapped to accept a tang-mounted aperture sight.
- No sights of any kind are provided; however, the barrel is drilled and tapped for a Weaver base, and dovetailed for a front sight.
- Early models were not factory drilled and tapped, but it was a simple matter to do so.
- I well remember what a tedious job it was to drill and tap a rifle receiver for a scope base, but tang sights often used existing holes and could be installed with ease.
- The Miniloaders sport a Monte Carlo-style stock and are drilled and tapped to accept a scope mount base.
- There's also no need to drill and tap the receiver.
- While we had the spindle out of the planer, we decided to drill and tap the other two sides of the square cutter head, so four blades could be mounted if needed.
- Drilling and tapping the tough steel of a receiver, while keeping the holes straight and aligned, is a task for a good machinist.
- The standard 1-degree indexing table allows easy access to complex prismatic parts or to drill and tap holes in one setup.
- In addition, it's also drilled and tapped for universal scope mounting blocks.
- The simplest design is to bore a ‘T’ and then at each opening tap threads to hold the transducer, piston guide and PEEK tube connector.
- It required only about 30 minutes to locate, drill and tap, deburr and then mount the new sight.
- With the receiver drilled and tapped, and the barrel seat located, the next step was to make a takedown screw.
- All of the guns are factory drilled and tapped for tang sights from either Lyman or Marble.
- I've urged the company to drill and tap the receiver for a Lyman or Williams receiver peep sight.
- What's not obvious from the pictures is the handguard is drilled and tapped in a number places for other accessory mounts including sling swivels.
- Why the company didn't drill and tap the new model for both standard receiver and tang sights, defeats me.
- The stud is drilled and tapped to accept the front action screw.
Phrases 1Ready to be poured from a tap. Example sentencesExamples - We didn't come across a single bar that didn't have at least ten different brews on tap.
- They have beer on tap too and a vast selection of vodkas.
- At 5 p.m., beginning this week, the bar menu starts, served upstairs in a cozy nook outfitted with a small bar, a handful of seats, a chalkboard menu, and beer on tap.
- Australian technology and expertise will play a key role in a multi-billion dollar scheme to provide Manila's population of 11 million with drinking water on tap.
- For those who'd rather drink their dessert, there are 48 beers on tap and bottles sold by the bucket.
- This head is always present when poured the correct way either on tap or using a can containing a ‘widget’.
- Initially the emphasis was on getting water on tap to rural households, now Group Water Schemes must ensure that they provide their members with a wholesome and safe drinking water.
- The bar has some great beers on tap but get the staff to mix you one of their fruity daiquiris and you will be back for more.
- There are Japanese beers available made from rice at the liquor store if you need that brew taste, but it's unlikely that your run-of-the-mill bar has Japanese imports on tap.
- While each restaurant carries the 110 beer minimum (30 on tap, 80 or more in bottles), no two menus are alike.
Synonyms on draught, cask-conditioned, real-ale, from barrels, not bottled, not canned - 1.1informal Freely available whenever needed.
Example sentencesExamples - With plenty of World Bank money on tap, the government borrowed and spent like a drunken sailor, artificially raising living standards and burying Hungary in debt.
- On this sort of trip, you can expect all the trimmings: a four-seater aircraft with a cruising speed of 450 mph, reclining leather seats, champagne and caviar on tap and a shiny black car to whisk you to your destination.
- If that means offering these men positions at the Army War College or some other institution to keep their knowledge on tap, then I think we ought to do those things.
- Whenever I feel everything's getting on top of me, I just pop in there and every kind of support and counselling is on tap.
- He can afford a private hospital room with edible meals and the best specialists on tap charging him huge fees - but there is little doubt that he would prefer to be in rude health and spending his money otherwise.
- It is lucky to have, in addition, thermal power on tap, thanks to its unique geological structure, which produces both volcanoes and glaciers and some of the most dramatic scenery anywhere in the world.
- There is plenty of power on tap under the bonnet, the i-CTDi unit capable of turning on some real sporty driving, while bags of torque delivers instant acceleration, something not always available when needed from some diesel engines.
- In the past the producer was simply required to make a batch of programmes in an integrated factory, within which a large range of back-up services were available on tap.
- This juxtaposition seems topsy-turvy: education should be on tap and drugs should be difficult to obtain.
- The catering wagon has been amazing because we get food on tap all the time.
Synonyms on hand, to hand, at hand, available, ready, handy, accessible, obtainable, in reserve, standing by - 1.2North American informal On schedule to occur.
Example sentencesExamples - A major march is on tap for August 6 in Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and to mobilize support for extension of some of the Act's provisions.
- It's not 1989 in the Middle East, and a series of velvet revolutions aren't on tap for the immediate future.
- Now checking in with the world of entertainment, what's on tap, Brooke?
- He already has at least three fund-raisers on tap in the new year.
- Lots of future campaign speculation, loads of laughs, food and music were on tap for the gathering of women movers and shakers.
- Numerous other parties are on tap, many catering to the Hollywood set.
- Regardless of how he fares on Friday, he has another fight on tap for the fall, though he's a bit less pumped up about that one.
- Also on tap are the launch of a public diplomacy initiative to improve the U.S. image in the Muslim world and a possible trip to the Middle East.
- Our top story today of top stories, coronary bypass surgery on tap for Bill Clinton.
- But the real drama is on tap for tomorrow, when the mother of his accuser is due to take the stand.
Origin Old English tæppa ‘peg for the vent-hole of a cask’, tæppian ‘provide (a cask) with a stopper’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tap and German Zapfen (nouns). verbtæptap [with object]1Strike (someone or something) with a quick light blow or blows. one of my staff tapped me on the shoulder Example sentencesExamples - Fill the spaces between plants with soil mix, tapping gently.
- She taps the ‘send’ button and I hear the computer printer crackle in the kitchen behind us as it prints out the order ticket.
- The butler stood aside and tapped on the door four times to signal our arrival.
- Every few inches he would tap lightly and then listen with the stethoscope.
- With lifeless voices, singers march through the streets, striking bells and tapping on drums made of buffalo skin.
- She even smiled when he tapped her on the shoulder and held a grubby newspaper cutting under her nose.
- Just the wind was hitting the tree branches outside which tapped at the window, giving the light from the front garden gate foul shadows.
- He removed his own spectacles and tapped at the lenses with his gloved finger.
- He didn't want to disturb her parents, so he climbed the tree and tapped on her glass.
- Turn box upside down and tap lightly on the bowl to remove excess chocolate.
- To pollinate tomatoes, tap on the bamboo stakes once in the morning and once at night when you notice the petals of the flower are curved back.
- Make sure the rooting hormone covers the part of the stem where you have removed the foliage, then tap gently to remove the excess.
- I tapped him on the shoulder and, using my best traveller-sign-language, indicated that he had dropped them.
- When paintings are finished, porcelain slip is poured onto bat and tapped gently to remove any air bubbles.
- Gently tap to eliminate excess spice mixture and then coat uniformly with bread crumbs.
- My finger tapped the ‘J’ key over and over, but not hard enough to make a letter appear on the screen.
- The leaves of a tall oak tree tapped against the tiny glass window.
- He had some good moves and clearly fancied himself, but I tapped him with a left to the body and he dropped his hands, so I sent in a right hand and from then it was just a matter of time.
- When the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped, it is done.
- I exclaimed coming up and tapping my older sister on the shoulder.
Synonyms knock, rap, strike, beat, drum, peck touch, pat, nudge, strike lightly, slap lightly, jab, poke, dig, shove, hit knock, rap, strike, beat, peck - 1.1 Strike (something) against something else with a quick light blow or blows.
Gloria was tapping her feet in time to the music Example sentencesExamples - Fill pan with cheesecake mixture, tap on counter and let stand for 10 minutes to allow air bubbles to rise to surface.
- She absently tapped her artistry pencil on the sketch paper as she stared out onto the whitened garden with unseeing eyes.
- Her hands slowed down and she tapped her long manicured fingers against the desk, making a click, click sound with every tap.
- He offered him a beer from the six-pack dangling on his finger, then tapped his can against Wylie's.
- He shifted slightly, but his foot tapped my ankle, causing me to yelp.
- He sat staring out the window with his elbows on the arm rests and his thumbs under his chin, slowly tapping his two index fingers together as he planned his next step.
- Did you know that papal death is officially determined by the Cardinal Chamberlain by gently tapping the late Pope's head thrice with a silver hammer?
- She told him as her fingers gently tapped on her half empty coffee cup.
- I tapped my mechanical pencil against my desk and sighed deeply, glancing at the clock from the corner of my eye.
- With a slight laugh, she held up her mocha and tapped the cup against his.
- He reached out and tapped my nose with his finger in a loving way.
- She was tapping her bright green fingernails against the desk.
- He dropped out the old magazine and tapped his new one on his helmet, to get any sand out.
- He taps his cue stick against the table edge, thinking.
- The one that spoke wore his strawberry blond hair in a braid and was tapping a wickedly curved sword against his shoulder, looking none too impressed with the man below him.
- If you did then they came round with a ruler and tapped you on the wrist.
- Drinking glasses filled to varying levels with water and tapped lightly with a teaspoon or cake fork can produce a beautiful tune.
- The latter was tapping her old, brittle foot impatiently against the cold marble of the palace floor.
- He raps his sticks together, then taps his cymbals in a way that recalls the playing knives and forks on the kitchen table.
- She tapped the small wooden box against her palm and stared at the orange dust.
- 1.2tap something out Produce (a rhythm) with a series of quick light blows on a surface.
drums that tapped out a rumba beat Example sentencesExamples - A string quartet was playing merrily in the corner and hundreds of feet were tapping out uneven rhythms on the mosaic marble floor.
- He hummed along with the radio and tapped the beat out on the steering wheel.
- His left hand tapped out a mindless rhythm on his thigh.
- He began tapping a tempo out on the woodblock and nodded his head to the tune.
- I drummed my fingers lightly on the green felt of the table, tapping out a little rhythm.
- Emily and Anna sang along with the radio with Emily tapping the beat out on the steering wheel occasionally.
- She tore her eyes from them for a moment to spy the bodhrán player in the tree, tapping out her rhythm with her eyes closed, not noticing the spy amongst them.
- "Information," He taps the syllables out soundlessly against his temple, "You see, is the key."
- If you have an elementary or intermediate student who falls into this category, you might have her practice hearing the beginning of the piece in her mind consistently in the lesson before beginning to play, even tapping out the rhythm for you to demonstrate the tempo.
- 1.3 Write or enter (something) using a keyboard or keypad.
he tapped out a few words on the keyboard Example sentencesExamples - But then again, we're stuck at a PC tapping away all day, while he is doing a job he no doubt loves, where people pay him for his silliness.
- To use them, we have to remember a four-digit PIN and then - my brain is exhausted at the mental gymnastics even thinking about it - tap the number into a keypad.
- The student had tapped her name and mobile phone number into his phone and arranged to meet him for lunch before she left.
- She said that the offence was introduced to deter telegraphers from interfering with messages as they tapped them out and was enshrined in law in the Wireless Telegraphy Act dating back to the turn of the 20th century.
- Keen to dampen down any rumours and to reassure staff that all's well, he tapped out a hastily written memo to his staff using his Blackberry.
- She stands at a terminal, tapping things into the keyboard.
- First she wrote it on paper, then she tap tapped it into my laptop.
- I do, however, have a reason for not writing, a reason that I can express in two horrific words, words I wince at even as my trembling fingers tap them out on the keyboard: FINAL EXAMS.
- She did the same to the wire leads, making sure that they didn't get tangled up, before she tapped a command out on the terminal's interface to get things started.
- At the moment (for me, at least), this necessitates ripping out the necessary HTML and PHP from one of my existing pages, and hastily tapping something out in Notepad.
- And we don't think the fighter pilots will be tapping IMs on keyboards.
- If you have a short, sharp message to send, you can tap it out on the phone.
- The electrical surge's frequency was tapped out via Morse code and then transformed into a vibration that eventually came out as sound.
- He tapped something into a keyboard and a map appeared on the glass, with one green dot and one blue dot.
- Glancing at her, I saw her studying her phone furiously and tapping a message out.
- His days as a ‘war correspondent’ come through ‘codes tapped out in the dark’.
- When the user is building a trail, he names it, inserts the name in his code book, and taps it out on his keyboard.
- She muttered to herself and swam slowly over to the wall control panel, tapping in the correct key code on the fluorescent buttons to make the water vanish.
- But he carried on regardless: tapping his column out on a typewriter in his apartment 15 floors above Central Park.
- I found that, once I got the hang of the technique, speaking messages was much faster than tapping them out.
2US informal Designate or select (someone) for a task or honor, especially membership of an organization or committee. he had been tapped earlier to serve in Costa Rica Example sentencesExamples - But with extensive prior experience in camping, she was tapped to assist with the development of this new program.
- I was tapped by Charlie Mitten at Newcastle United and in those days you had to put in a transfer request.
- In third grade, I was tapped for the role of Martha Washington in the school play.
- He formed what was essentially a war cabinet, tapping prominent Republicans Henry Stimson and Frank Knox to run the War and Navy Departments.
- But an even higher profile role came in 1987, when Ronald Reagan tapped him to be chairman of the Federal Reserve.
- Louisiana's governor has tapped the former CNN chairman to help lead the rebuilding.
- For the second time in a week, he has tapped a White House insider to fill a high-powered cabinet post.
- Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey showed up for court duty in Chicago today and was tapped to sit on a jury in a murder case.
- The President tapped him last year be the Afghan ambassador, and he's shuttled between Kabul and Washington ever since.
- He was tapped then as a possible future leader, a feat he achieved within 20 years.
- When George W. Bush became president, he tapped Powell for the top job.
- Did you know, when he was tapped for the Vice President position, he was registered as a voter in Texas?
- They were tapped to lead a mission to rescue or recover.
- He was tapped this year as police chief in Miami, which city officials hope to make the headquarters for the FTAA.
- The following year she was tapped as its commentator/model supervisor.
- It is absurd that a man that proved to be a failure as the education minister is to be tapped as a ‘promising’ candidate for the parliamentary election.
- She tapped the Company to provide the finger foods and yummy sweets for the gathering.
- Lin is a respected corporate leader who has long been tapped for the economics portfolio, but declined to serve in past KMT cabinets.
- Italian state radio said Italy might tap the Foreign Minister for the commission post.
- He said he is especially happy that Bush has tapped William Pryor, the former attorney general of Alabama.
nountæptap 1A quick light blow, or the sound of such a blow. Example sentencesExamples - The system will also be an advantage in that pregnant mothers records will be monitored for years and doctors will be able to get their history at the tap of a key on computer.
- At this point, she felt a quick tap on her shoulder, and turned to face the person.
- I just started flipping through the channels when there was a light tap at the door.
- A quick tap on the first door to his right was all he gave before pushing it open and entering.
- I listened to the tap of her feet against the wooden floor, and could have sworn that it matched my own heart's beat.
- A light tap at the door announced the arrival of the servant.
- Tapping the clock illuminates the display; a tap also turns off the alarm when it is ascending through its squeaky crescendo.
- Her micro-course crème brûlées were faultless, the caramel cracking obligingly with the lightest tap of a spoon, the base just on the oozing side of set.
- Remove the finished dome from the shaft with a light tap on the workbench.
- It was coming up to midday when I heard a light tap on my door, followed by my Mom's voice.
- A light tap on his shoulder makes him turn around.
- I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Chad.
- Whereas staff were once forced to walk to colleagues' desks to pass on information, the e-mail revolution now means much of this can be done in a tap of the computer keyboard.
- Again, as the night before, there came a light tap at her door.
- All versions of the FTT use a tapping device that records the number of taps performed by a subject over a series of ten-second intervals.
- She jumped at the light tap on her shoulder, eyes widening in panic as she spun around quickly to stare into Sakura's amused dark eyes.
- Suddenly she felt a tap on the shoulder and she broke eye contact with him to see an elderly woman handing her a handkerchief.
- Despite one Newry player lying injured and being attended to by two team members he took the quick tap and scored.
- Once you've poured the mousse into the oiled moulds, give each one a sharp tap on the surface to knock out any overlarge air bubbles, cover and leave to set.
- She started toward her bed, but just as she took her first step, a sharp tap sounded at the French doors that led to the terrace outside her window.
Synonyms knock, rap, strike, beat, peck touch, pat, nudge, light blow, light slap, jab, poke, dig, shove, pressure 2Tap dancing. Example sentencesExamples - Dance students of all ages will perform a variety of song and dance including tap, classical ballet, jazz, national character and expressive dance.
- Have you heard of any good dance programs in California colleges that incorporate tap?
- She is a member of the Guildford School of Acting learning drama, musical tap, jazz dance and group singing.
- They don't reproduce the movie's numbers, although there are some overlaps: some tap, some ballet steps, some all-purpose chorus dancing.
- Born in Rochester, New York, she started dancing when she was about seven, studying jazz and tap.
- He is first and foremost a classical dancer, but this essay into the realms of musical comedy shows that classical training is no hindrance to modern dance and tap.
- They are paired with six expert young dancers who each dance in a particular style - bhangra, street, musical theatre, pop, Irish dancing and tap.
- His codified syllabi for tap and jazz made a major impact on the way these forms were taught internationally.
- Soon after she got a job as a dancing assistant in tap at Arthur Murray Studios.
- For a weekly fee of $650, each dancer gets a morning of either jazz, ballet or tap, followed by an afternoon of their own choice of dance curriculum.
- Yet I'm still not an accomplished dancer after six years of tap and jazz.
- The impressive cast of 18 dancers and drummers combine pantsula and tap with Tswana and gumboot dancing and the rhythmic beat of drums.
- He and I danced the gypsy tap, the mambo and the samba, just as we had in my garage.
- Some of these classes are jazz and tap, but ballet is the main focus.
- She grew up near Wilmington, Delaware, where she studied ballet and tap.
- In some ways, of course, the return of tap signaled a kind of exhaustion in the choreographic impulse on Broadway.
- New trends are emerging - from the way tap is taught, danced, and choreographed, to the places where it is seen and heard.
- "I don't want to hear five years from now, ten years from now, that tap is a dying art form," he says.
- When she eventually opened a dance studio, she hadn't heard of rhythm tap.
- Still, he says his classes in tap, jazz, and especially ballet greatly enhanced his athletic skills.
- 2.1 A piece of metal attached to the toe and heel of a tap dancer's shoe to make a tapping sound.
Example sentencesExamples - They have a metal tap on the toe/ball of the foot section, and another on the heel.
- This combination shoe has at a minimum a semi-flexible arch made of hard rubber, flexible inserts on the sides of the shoe upper above the arch and a hard leather sole and heel that can accept taps for tap dancing.
- They were carrying canes and doing a sort of tap-dance, minus the taps.
- Popular in 19th-century minstrel shows, versions such as ‘buck-and-wing’ (danced vigorously in wooden-soled shoes) and ‘soft-shoe’ (shoes) developed as separate techniques; by 1925 they had merged, and metal taps were attached to shoe heels and toes to produce a more pronounced sound.
3tapsUS treated as singular or plural A bugle call for lights to be put out in army quarters. Example sentencesExamples - At taps, he personally inspects each man with standards that would make a recruit company commander flinch, says goodnight and turns out their light.
- As the story goes, the General was not pleased with the call for Extinguish Lights feeling that the call was too formal to signal the day's end and with the help of the brigade bugler, wrote Taps to honor his men while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, following the Seven Days' battle.
- Taps began as a revision to the signal for Extinguish Lights (Lights Out) at the end of the day.
- After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call.
- 3.1 A bugle call sounded at a military funeral.
Example sentencesExamples - "Facing critical shortage of musicians for military funerals, the Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays taps by itself as the player holds it to his lips."
- There aren't enough buglers to play taps for dead veterans, so the Pentagon has authorized a digital machine to play it instead.
- Bugles sound taps for the police persons, firemen and city and government and at times white doves are released at mourning services that bid farewell to groups.
- The reading of the names ended at 11.20 am; a bugler played taps.
- The manual for Military Infantry Drill published in 1891 made taps mandatory at military funerals and playing taps remains an honour today.
- No bugle is to sound taps for his military triumphs.
- The US Department of Defense is studying the use of a digital bugle to render taps at veterans' military funerals.
- He and his fellow buglers have the unfortunate and often daunting task of playing ‘Taps’ at the memorial ceremonies for the division, leaving at a moment's notice at times to play the final respects for fallen comrades and those attending the services.
Origin Middle English: from Old French taper, or of imitative origin; compare with clap and rap. |