taper
See also: táper
Contents
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)
- (intransitive, followed by the preposition 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)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | taper | avoir tapé | |||||
| gerund | en tapant | en ayant tapé | |||||
| present participle | tapant /ta.pɑ̃/ | ||||||
| past participle | tapé /ta.pe/ | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| 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 historic1 | 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 | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | tape /tap/ |
tapes /tap/ |
tape /tap/ |
tapions /ta.pjɔ̃/ |
tapiez /ta.pje/ |
tapent /tap/ |
| imperfect1 | tapasse /ta.pas/ |
tapasses /ta.pas/ |
tapât /ta.pa/ |
tapassions /ta.pa.sjɔ̃/ |
tapassiez /ta.pa.sje/ |
tapassent /ta.pas/ | |
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | tape /tap/ |
— | tapons /ta.pɔ̃/ |
tapez /ta.pe/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
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
