taper
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈteɪpə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈteɪpɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
- Homophone: tapir
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”), or of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”). Compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat; to be hot; to heat”). More at tepid.
NounEdit
taper (plural tapers)
- A slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle
- ~1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act I, scene I, line 157:
- strike on the tinder, ho!/ Give me a taper.
- 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Change
- Love used to carry a bow, you know,
- But now he carries a taper;
- It is either a length of wax aglow,
- Or a twist of lighted paper.
- ~1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act I, scene I, line 157:
- (by extension) a small light.
- A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object
- the taper of a spire
- The legs of the table had a slight taper to them.
- 2005, Michael Ellis, Apollo Rises (page 15)
- Her hair hangs over her ears and flows to a taper at the back of her neck where it is held in place with a wide and circular black clasp.
- A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
slender wax candle
tapering form
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VerbEdit
taper (third-person singular simple present tapers, present participle tapering, simple past and past participle tapered)
- (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3
- Though true cylinders without — within, the villanous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3
- (intransitive) To diminish gradually.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to make thinner or narrower at one end.
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to diminish gradually
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
AdjectiveEdit
taper
- Tapered; narrowing to a point.
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
taper (plural tapers)
- (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
- Someone who works with tape or tapes.
AnagramsEdit
- Peart, Petra, apert, apter, parte, pater, peart, petar, petra, prate, preta, reapt, repat, retap, trape, treap
DanishEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle French taper, from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”) or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to tap, rap, strike”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dab- (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰebʰ- (“to beat, strike, stun, be speechless”). Related to German tappen (“to grope, fumble”), Dutch deppen (“to dab”), Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”). Related to dab.
PronunciationEdit
- IPA(key): /ta.pe/
Audio (France, Paris) (file) - Rhymes: -e
- Homophones: tapai, tapé, tapée, tapées, tapés, tapez
VerbEdit
taper
- (transitive) to slap, knock, beat
- (transitive) to type (use a keyboard or typewriter)
- (transitive with sur) to hit, beat, rap
- (intransitive) to beat down (of the sun); to go to one's head (of wine etc.)
- (intransitive, slang) to stink, pong, reek
- (reflexive, slang) to put away (a meal etc.)
- Je me suis tapé un bon petit hamburger hier soir.
- (reflexive, vulgar, slang) to fuck (have sex)
- Il s'est tapé la fille de son patron.
ConjugationEdit
Conjugation of taper (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| present participle | tapant /ta.pɑ̃/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past participle | tapé /ta.pe/ | ||||||
| infinitive | |||||||
| simple | taper | ||||||
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| gerund1 | |||||||
| simple | tapant /ta.pɑ̃/ | ||||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | tape /tap/ |
tapes /tap/ |
tape /tap/ |
tapons /ta.pɔ̃/ |
tapez /ta.pe/ |
tapent /tap/ |
| imperfect | tapais /ta.pɛ/ |
tapais /ta.pɛ/ |
tapait /ta.pɛ/ |
tapions /ta.pjɔ̃/ |
tapiez /ta.pje/ |
tapaient /ta.pɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | tapai /ta.pɛ/ |
tapas /ta.pa/ |
tapa /ta.pa/ |
tapâmes /ta.pam/ |
tapâtes /ta.pat/ |
tapèrent /ta.pɛʁ/ | |
| future | taperai /ta.pʁɛ/ |
taperas /ta.pʁa/ |
tapera /ta.pʁa/ |
taperons /ta.pʁɔ̃/ |
taperez /ta.pʁe/ |
taperont /ta.pʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | taperais /ta.pʁɛ/ |
taperais /ta.pʁɛ/ |
taperait /ta.pʁɛ/ |
taperions /ta.pə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
taperiez /ta.pə.ʁje/ |
taperaient /ta.pʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | tape /tap/ |
tapes /tap/ |
tape /tap/ |
tapions /ta.pjɔ̃/ |
tapiez /ta.pje/ |
tapent /tap/ |
| imperfect2 | tapasse /ta.pas/ |
tapasses /ta.pas/ |
tapât /ta.pa/ |
tapassions /ta.pa.sjɔ̃/ |
tapassiez /ta.pa.sje/ |
tapassent /ta.pas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | tape /tap/ |
— | tapons /ta.pɔ̃/ |
tapez /ta.pe/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “taper” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
AnagramsEdit
NormanEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (Jersey) (file)
VerbEdit
taper (gerund tap'thie)
- (Jersey, onomatopoeia) to hit, knock
Derived termsEdit
- taper raide (“to hit hard”)
Norwegian BokmålEdit
NounEdit
taper
- a loser
InflectionEdit
Declension of taper in Bokmål
Related termsEdit
- tapar (Nynorsk)
NounEdit
taper
- Indefinite plural of tape
VerbEdit
taper
