taper
English edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈteɪpə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈteɪpɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
- Homophone: tapir
Etymology 1 edit
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”). If so, it is a doublet of papyrus and paper. Alternatively, of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid.
Noun edit
taper (plural tapers)
- A slender wax candle.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311, line 157:
- Strike on the Tinder, hoa: / Giue me a Taper: […]
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 376, column 2:
- Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning:
- 1813 August 13, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson:
- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 160:
- The red glare of the tapers flung a strange unnatural hue on the painted windows of the little Gothic chapel, where none slept save the noble of name, and the high of blood—purple and crimson, the colours mingled together in fantastic combinations, till the rainbow-hued figures seemed to move with supernatural life.
- 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.
- (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.
- A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
slender wax candle
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tapering form
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Verb edit
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 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
- Though true cylinders without — within, the villainous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
- (intransitive) To become thinner or narrower at one end.
- (intransitive) To diminish gradually.
- (intransitive) (of a central bank) To tighten monetary policy.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to make thinner or narrower at one end
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to become 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. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adjective edit
taper
- Tapered; narrowing to a point.
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
taper (plural tapers)
- (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
- Someone who works with tape or tapes.
Translations edit
tape machine operator
one who works with tapes
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Anagrams edit
Danish edit
Verb edit
taper
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited 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.
Pronunciation edit
- IPA(key): /ta.pe/
Audio (France, Paris) (file) - Rhymes: -e
- Homophones: tapai, tapé, tapée, tapées, tapés, tapez
Verb edit
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.
- I put away a good, tiny hamburger last night.
- (reflexive, vulgar, slang) to fuck (have sex)
- Il s’est tapé la fille de son patron.
- He fucked his boss' daughter.
- (reflexive) to put up with
- J’ai dû me taper trois heures d’embouteillage pour rejoindre l’aéroport.
- I had to put up with three hours of traffic jam to get to the airport.
Conjugation edit
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, on | 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 | – | – | – | ||||
| 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 usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms edit
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “taper”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “taper” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old English tapor, possibly from Latin papȳrus (if so, a doublet of paper).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
taper (plural tapres)
- taper (thin candle)
Descendants edit
- English: taper
References edit
- “tāper, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norman edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (Jersey) (file)
Verb edit
taper (gerund tap'thie)
- (Jersey, onomatopoeia) to hit, knock
Derived terms edit
- taper raide (“to hit hard”)
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Etymology 1 edit
Noun edit
taper m (definite singular taperen, indefinite plural tapere, definite plural taperne)
- a loser
Related terms edit
- tapar (Nynorsk)
Verb edit
taper
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
taper m
- indefinite plural of tape
Verb edit
taper
References edit
Anagrams edit
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Verb edit
taper
Walloon edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
taper
- to throw