tape
a strip of cloth, paper, or plastic with an adhesive surface, used for sealing, binding, or attaching items together; adhesive tape or masking tape.
a long, narrow strip of fabric used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.
a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.
a magnetic tape carrying recorded sound or images: I made a digital copy of that tape of Grandpa playing the violin.
a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.
to furnish with a tape or tapes.
to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.
to measure with or as if with a tape measure.
to record or prerecord on magnetic tape.
Origin of tape
1Other words from tape
- tapeless, adjective
- tapelike, adjective
- pre·tape, verb (used with object), pre·taped, pre·tap·ing.
- re·tape, verb (used with object), re·taped, re·tap·ing.
- un·taped, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tape in a sentence
The next day in the hospital, Hayes watched tape of Saturday’s game.
A high school football coach had a heart attack during a game, but didn’t leave until it was done | Kyle Melnick | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostDon’t just use regular transparent tape, though, as the oils on your skin will prevent it from sticking properly.
The best ways to stop a mask from fogging up your glasses, ranked | Sandra Gutierrez G. | November 18, 2020 | Popular-ScienceOne of my favorite VHS tapes growing up, “The NFL’s 100 Greatest Football Follies,” had a whole segment devoted to him being history’s most prolific fumbler.
Are We Sold On The Steelers, Seahawks And Other Would-Be Super Bowl Contenders? | Sara Ziegler (sara.ziegler@fivethirtyeight.com) | November 2, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightEpigenetics works by unspooling the tape, or not, to control which genetic instructions are carried out.
The Epigenetic Secrets Behind Dopamine, Drug Addiction and Depression | R. Douglas Fields | October 27, 2020 | Quanta MagazineWhile Vincent, an Australian who splits his time between Alice Springs and Brisbane, is reluctant to share the typical cost of storing a plane, he says every two weeks, APAS gets through a pallet of tape that costs almost A$50,000.
The world’s grounded jumbo jets sit in this desert parking lot in the middle of nowhere | Bernhard Warner | October 27, 2020 | Fortune
During the summer of 2013, I had the pleasure of attending a taping of The Colbert Report.
Ashton Kutcher’s History of Idiocy: Ubergate, Brownface, Joe Paterno, and More | Marlow Stern | November 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBefore taping, contestants were quarantined in the green room.
Jeopardy! Champion Julia Collins’s Brain Feels Like Mush | Sujay Kumar | November 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTrebek has spent four television weeks, in reality four or five days of taping, with her.
Jeopardy! Champion Julia Collins’s Brain Feels Like Mush | Sujay Kumar | November 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd Cosby showed up on a taping day wearing one of the sweaters.
A Full-Length Bill Cosby Portrait: From Track Star to Ugly Sweaters | Scott Porch | September 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe taping created such a stir that late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel had Nathan on to discuss the idea.
Nathan Fielder’s Business Theater: ‘Dumb Starbucks’ Wasn’t a Prank | Rich Goldstein | August 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBox sextant, used as giving angular accuracy to any of the foregoing; most useful with taping, and in following.
How to Observe in Archaeology | VariousLifting and carrying and shoving; cornering and taping and lacing—it seemed as though the afternoon would never wear to an end.
The Long Day | Dorothy RichardsonRick finished taping on a spray of evergreen, then he carefully put the present out of sight under his workbench.
The Egyptian Cat Mystery | Harold Leland GoodwinI didn't have to specify taping; all star ship radio traffic is automatically recorded.
Attrition | Jim WannamakerIn another moment he was rapidly taping the broken pipe-line.
The Flying Reporter | Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss
British Dictionary definitions for tape
/ (teɪp) /
a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc
any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses
a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course
military slang, mainly British another word for stripe 1 (def. 3)
Also: tape-record (also intr) to record (speech, music, etc)
to furnish with tapes
to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape
(usually passive) British informal to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up: he's got the job taped
Origin of tape
1Derived forms of tape
- tapelike, adjective
- taper, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with tape
see red tape.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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