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tab

See also: TAB, Tab, t.a.b., t-ab, and тав

Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. A small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, etc.
    • 1993, Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting, p 333:
      He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans.
  2. (slang) An ear.
  4. (by extension, graphical user interface) A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
  5. (graphical user interface) The page or form associated with such a navigational widget.
    How many tabs are open in your Web browser?
  6. (informal) A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.
    • 2008, Stephen King, Graduation Weekend
      Tonight the kids will go out and party down in a more righteous mode. Alcohol and not a few tabs of X will be ingested. Club music will throb through big speakers.
  7. (British Army, military slang) A fast march or run with full kit.

VerbEdit

tab (third-person singular simple present tabs, present participle tabbing, simple past and past participle tabbed)

  1. To affix with tabs; to label.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Apocopation (shortening) of (variously) tabulate, tabulator, or tabulation.

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) A restaurant bill.
  2. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate
    Put this round on my tab, will you, barman.
  3. (computing) A space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.

VerbEdit

tab (third-person singular simple present tabs, present participle tabbing, simple past and past participle tabbed)

  1. (computing) To use the Tab key on a computer to advance the cursor or move the input focus, or on a typewriter to advance the carriage.
    • 2010, Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4 (page 210)
      You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Likely to have been formed by clipping the Geordie pronunciation of the word tobacco or alternatively from the brand name Ogden's Tabs.

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (Britain, regional, Geordie and Mackem) cigarette.
    Giv'is a tab man!
TranslationsEdit
cigarette — see cigarette

ReferencesEdit

  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, →ISBN

Etymology 4Edit

Clipping of tablature

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. A form of musical notation indicating fingering rather than the pitch of notes, commonly used for stringed instruments.
TranslationsEdit
tablature — see tablature

Etymology 5Edit

Clipping of Cantab, from Cantabrigian, from Latin Cantabrigia (“Cambridge”).

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (British slang) A student of Cambridge University.
    • 1995 January 20, Paul Thomas, “Re: >Re: Those 'orrible Tabs”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet‎[1]:
      You should have been there---it was a good race. Just to clarify matters for the hard of understanding, the tabs led for about 1500m before turning to shrapnel, and Oxford eventually won by 3/4 length.
    • 1995 February 7, "Laser Cartridge" [username], “Re: Cambridge News, again.”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet‎[2]:
      Before Rachel gets in with a stab at the Tabs' coxing efforts, may I say that my experience of coxes on the Isis is somewhat similar.
    • 1998 January 17, whitey [username], “Re: Tab bashing (was University Challenge - Its pish)”, in rec.arts.tv.uk.misc, Usenet‎[3]:
      Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-)
    • 2002 March 27, The Guv'nor [username], “Re: My target this week was...”, in uk.rec.bodybuilding, Usenet‎[4]:
      I hope the Tabs get beaten! :-) I support Oxford for no real reason but they have a bad habit of losing to Cambridge recently.
    • 2002 March 29, Caroline Smith, “Re: Lifejackets thread returns... [was Re: Boat Race]”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet‎[5]:
      I have nothing against the girl (other than the fact she's a tab!), but it does strike me as a little daft!!
    • 2006 March 30, JY [username], “Veterans Boat Race (that's Oxford, England vs Cambridge, England)”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet‎[6]:
      Anybody know who won? ¶ Or should that be, how much did the Tabs win by? ;-)

Etymology 6Edit

Clipping of tabloid.

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (colloquial) A tabloid newspaper.

AnagramsEdit

KurdishEdit

NounEdit

tab ?

  1. patience

VolapükEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English table (table → tab; compare French: table, Latin: tabula, Interlingua: tabula, Esperanto: tablo, Ido: tablo).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

tab (plural tabs)

  1. table (item of furniture)

DeclensionEdit

declension of tab
singular plural
nominative tab tabs
genitive taba tabas
dative tabe tabes
accusative tabi tabis
vocative 1 o tab! o tabs!
predicative 2 tabu tabus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in some later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived termsEdit

Terms derived from "tab"

Related termsEdit

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