Tap /(?)/

Tap

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Tapped; p. pr. & vb. n. Tapping

  1. 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. To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes.

Tap

n.
  1. A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.
  2. A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.
  3. A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, -- usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo. (Mil.)

Tap

v. i.
  1. To strike a gentle blow.

Tap

n.
  1. A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn.
  2. A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like; a faucet.
  3. Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; as, a liquor of the same tap. [Colloq.]
  4. A place where liquor is drawn for drinking; a taproom; a bar. [Colloq.]
  5. A tool for forming an internal screw, as in a nut, consisting of a hardened steel male screw grooved longitudinally so as to have cutting edges. (Mech.)

Phrases & Compounds
On tap
Ready to be drawn; as, ale on tap.
Plug tap
a screw-cutting tap with a slightly tapering end.
Tap bolt
a bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut. See Illust. under Bolt.
Tap cinder
the slag of a puddling furnace.

Tap

v. t.
  1. To pierce so as to let out, or draw off, a fluid; as, to tap a cask, a tree, a tumor, a keg of beer, etc.
  2. Hence, to draw resources from (a reservoir) in any analogous way; as, to tap someone's knowledge of the Unix system; to tap the treasury.
  3. To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing.
    He has been tapping his liquors.
  4. To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut, a pipe, or tubing. (Mech.)
  5. to connect a listening device to (a telephone or telegraph line) secretly, for the purpose of hearing private conversations; also, to obtain or record (information) by tapping; -- a technique used by law enforcement agencies investigating suspected criminals. In the United States it is illegal without a court order permitting it.