tap

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To hit something gently and quickly.

   Someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.

2. 2
   verb

   To make light, repeated hits on a surface.

   She tapped her fingers on the table while she waited.

3. 3
   verb

   To secretly listen to someone's phone calls.

   The police suspected that their phone line was being tapped.

4. 4
   verb

   To draw on a source to get something useful from it.

   The company is trying to tap a new market in Asia.

The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tapa. The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obt…

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