Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

tap

/tæp/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms taps tapping tapped tappest tappedst tappeth

  1. noun A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
  2. noun 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”).
  3. noun 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. “We don’t have bottled water; you’ll have to get it from the tap.”
  4. noun (medicine, informal) A procedure that removes fluid from a body cavity; paracentesis. “abdominal tap    pleural tap    spinal tap”
  5. noun Liquor drawn through a tap (etymology 1, noun sense 2.2); hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; also (figurative, informal), a certain kind or quality of any thing. “a liquor of the same tap”
  6. noun A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications.
  7. noun A secret interception of telephone calls or other communications using such a device; also, a recording of such a communication. “telephone tap”
  8. noun (finance) A situation where a borrowing government authority issues bonds over a period of time, usually at a fixed price, with volumes sold on a particular day dependent on market conditions. “bond tap    tap issue”
  9. verb To furnish (a container, etc.) with a tap (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) so that liquid can be drawn.
  10. verb To draw off (a liquid) from a container or other source; also, to draw off a liquid from (a container or other source). “He tapped the ten-year-old whiskey from its barrel.”
  11. verb (medicine, informal) To drain off fluid from (a person or a body cavity) by paracentesis.
  12. verb To break into or open up (a thing) so as to obtain something; to exploit, to penetrate; tap into. “Businesses are trying to tap the youth market.”
  13. verb To deplete (something); to tap out.
  14. verb (informal) To ask or beg for (something) to be given for free; to cadge, to scrounge; also, to ask or beg (someone) to give something for free. “I tried to tap a cigarette off him, but he wouldn’t give me one.”
  15. verb (communication, chiefly law enforcement) To connect a listening and/or recording device to (a communication cable or device) in order to listen in secretly on telephone calls or other communications; also, to secretly listen in on and/or record (a telephone call or other communication). “They can’t tap the phone without a warrant.”
  16. verb (board games, card games) To turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round.
  17. verb To strike (someone or something), chiefly lightly with a clear sound, but sometimes hard. “Emma tapped Jim on the shoulder to get his attention.”
  18. verb (slang) Also in the form tap on the shoulder: to arrest (someone).
  19. verb (slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with (someone). “I would tap that hot girl over there.”
  20. verb (slang) To shoot (someone or something) with a firearm.

Synonyms

spigot spile cock faucet handle spout stopcock bar barroom clap knock pat ping plip plonk plop rap slam slap smack strike water faucet water tap hydrant wiretap dab tip exploit intercept bug

Antonyms

humming

Etymology

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 forming verbs); or
* from Proto-Germanic *tappōną, from *tappô (noun) (see above).
Verb etymology 1, verb sense 1.3.5 (“to turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round”) alludes to the abilities or resources of the card or piece having been drawn on to the point of temporary exhaustion: see verb etymology 1, verb sense 1.3.2.

The verb is derived from Middle English tappen, teppen (“to give (something) a knock or tap; to hit (something) lightly, pat, tap”), either:
* imitative of the making of a tapping sound; or
* from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”) (modern French taper), from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”), or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to rap, strike, tap”), or from Proto-Germanic *tabōną (“to grope, to grapple, to claw”), maybe via a Old Norse *tapa (“to strike”), as seen in the derivative tapsa (“to tap”) Doublet of dab and tave.
Verb etymology 2, verb sense 1.1.1 (“to arrest (someone)”) and etymology 2, verb sense 1.6 (“to choose or designate (someone) for a duty, etc.”) allude to a police officer or other person tapping someone on their shoulder to catch their attention or to select them.
The noun is derived from Middle English tap, tappe (“light blow or hit”), and then either:
* from Middle English tappen (verb) (see above); or
* from Old French tape (“light slap or touch, pat”) (modern French tape), from tapper, taper (verb) (see above).
* German tappen (“to fumble; to grope”)
* Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”)

From Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To strike with a slight or gentle blow; to touch gently; to rap lightly; to pat; as, to tap one with the hand or a cane.
  2. verb To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes.
  3. noun A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat. Addison.
  4. noun A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.

Etymology [F. taper to strike; of Teutonic origin; cf. dial. G. tapp, tapps, a blow, tappe a paw, fist, G. tappen to grope.]

Etymology [Cf. F. tape. See Tap to strike.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tap”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “tap” (best matches first).