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Wiktionary

taper

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 2 May 2007

PronunciationEdit

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.

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Particularly: "slender wax candle"

NounEdit

taper (plural tapers)

  1. 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.
  2. (by extension) a small light.
  3. 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.
  4. A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

taper (third-person singular simple present tapers, present participle tapering, simple past and past participle tapered)

  1. (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.
  2. (intransitive) To diminish gradually.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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

  1. Tapered; narrowing to a point.

Etymology 2Edit

tape +‎ -er

NounEdit

taper (plural tapers)

  1. (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
  2. Someone who works with tape or tapes.

AnagramsEdit

DanishEdit

VerbEdit

taper

  1. present of tape

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

VerbEdit

taper

  1. (transitive) to slap, knock, beat
  2. (transitive) to type (use a keyboard or typewriter)
  3. (transitive with sur) to hit, beat, rap
  4. (intransitive) to beat down (of the sun); to go to one's head (of wine etc.)
  5. (intransitive, slang) to stink, pong, reek
  6. (reflexive, slang) to put away (a meal etc.)
    Je me suis tapé un bon petit hamburger hier soir.
  7. (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)
infinitive simple taper
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple tapant
/ta.pɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle tapé
/ta.pe/
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.pe/ 		tapas
/ta.pa/ 		tapa
/ta.pa/ 		tapâmes
/ta.pam/ 		tapâtes
/ta.pat/ 		tapèrent
/ta.pɛʁ/
future taperai
/ta.pʁe/ 		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 – tu – nous vous –
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 The French gerund is 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

AnagramsEdit

NormanEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • Audio (Jersey)
    		(file)

VerbEdit

taper (gerund tap'thie)

  1. (Jersey, onomatopoeia) to hit, knock

Derived termsEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

NounEdit

taper

  1. a loser

InflectionEdit

    Declension of taper in Bokmål
Genitive
Indefinite singular taper tapers
Definite singular taperen taperens
Indefinite plural tapere taperes
Definite plural taperne tapernes


Related termsEdit

NounEdit

taper

  1. indefinite plural of tape

VerbEdit

taper

  1. present of tape (to lose)
  2. (archaic) present of tape (to tape)

Norwegian NynorskEdit

VerbEdit

taper

  1. present of tape (to lose)

WalloonEdit

EtymologyEdit

  This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page per etymology instructions, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.

VerbEdit

taper

  1. to throw
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