Taper Meaning
/ˈteɪpə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA slender wax candle.
nounA small light.
Sentence Examples
He needed to taper off venlafaxine.
She dissolved like a taper.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The candle's flame will ____ slowly as the wax melts away and the wick burns down.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The narrow path began to ____ as it wound its way up the steep side of the high and rocky mountain today.
Word Origin & History
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. 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. First attested before the 12th c.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Strike on the Tinder, hoa:
Giue me a Taper […]"
— 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:
"Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning […]"
— 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:
"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."
— 1813 August 13, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson:
"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."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 160:
"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."
— 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Change:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The candle's flame will ____ slowly as the wax melts away and the wick burns down.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The narrow path began to ____ as it wound its way up the steep side of the high and rocky mountain today.