tape

American  

[teyp] / teɪp /

noun

1. a strip of cloth, paper, or plastic with an adhesive surface, used for sealing, binding, or attaching items together; adhesive tape or masking tape.

2. a long, narrow strip of fabric used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.

3. a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.

4. tape measure.

5. magnetic tape.

6. a magnetic tape carrying recorded sound or images.

   I made a digital copy of that tape of Grandpa playing the violin.

7. a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.

8. ticker tape.

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verb (used with object)

taped, taping

1. to furnish with a tape or tapes.

2. to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.

3. to measure with or as if with a tape measure.

4. to record or prerecord on magnetic tape.

verb (used without object)

taped, taping

1. to record something on magnetic tape.

tape British  

/ teɪp /

noun

1. a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc

2. any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses

3. a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course

4. slang military another word for stripe 1

5. See magnetic tape ticker tape paper tape tape recording

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verb

1. Also: tape-record.  (also intr) to record (speech, music, etc)

2. to furnish with tapes

3. to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape

4. informal (usually passive) to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up

   he's got the job taped

tape Idioms  

1. see red tape.

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Other Word Forms

• pretape verb (used with object)
• retape verb (used with object)
• tapeless adjective
• tapelike adjective
• taper noun
• untaped adjective

Etymology

Origin of tape

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; unexplained variant of tappe, Old English tæppe “strip (of cloth),” literally, “part torn off”; akin to Middle Low German teppen “to tear, pluck”

Example Sentences

The costs and red tape associated with that can be enough to turn many startups away from their bank pipe dreams.

From The Wall Street Journal

Though cassette culture is enjoying its own period of rediscovery — albeit on a far smaller scale — he hasn’t seen a market emerge for newly engineered tape decks.

From Los Angeles Times

His unfiltered comments are part of his self-styled image as a maverick, which found traction in a nation where corruption, red tape and institutional dysfunction impact people's lives at every level.

From Barron's

"So we're showing red tape the red card and taking pub hours to extra time so fans can get another round in without missing a single kick."

From BBC

These are all problems for energy-hungry data centres, which use fast-degrading hard drives and magnetic tapes that require backing up every few years.

From Barron's

Related Words

• line
• rope