tap

CEFRB1

/tæp/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To touch lightly or get liquid from a container.

  2. 02

    noun

    A device that controls the flow of liquid.

Examples

  • Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.

  • Is the tap water here safe to drink?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A hollow device used to control the flow of a fluid, such as an alcoholic beverage from a cask, or a gas or liquid in a pipe.

  2. An object with a tapering conical form like a tap (etymology 1, noun sense 1); specifically, ellipsis of taproot (“long, tapering root of a plant”).

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.

More examples

In context

  • We don’t have bottled water; you’ll have to get it from the tap.

  • The tap is running.

  • Taps, also called spouts or spiles, are valveless pipes inserted into drilled holes in maple trees to collect their sap as part of the process of making maple syrup

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

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Nearby

Origin

verb

The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tapa. The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obtain (liquid) from a tap”), and then either: * from Old English tæppa (see above) + -ian (suffix for...