tape

[teyp]

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.

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

/ 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

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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tape¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tape¹

Old English tæppe; related to Old Frisian tapia to pull, Middle Dutch tapen to tear

Idioms and Phrases

see red tape.

Example Sentences

Ten, fifteen, or twenty at a time would clutch at the tape, as it streamed out with its endless lines of quotations,” Miller wrote in the Chicago Tribune of Oct.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Roske pleaded guilty in April, nearly three years after being arrested outside Kavanaugh’s house with a pistol, zip ties, duct tape, pepper spray, crowbar and hammer, along with other burglary tools, according to court records.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Dickinson combed through “maybe 50 or 100” tapes to find the right actor to play Mike, a down-on-his-luck British man struggling with homelessness and drug addiction on the streets of London.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He listens to self-help tapes and goes out with coworkers for karaoke, where he belts out Atomic Kitten’s girl-group smash “Whole Again” without a trace of irony or self-consciousness.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

After covering his eyes with a blindfold, gagging him with a sock and taping his mouth shut, the suspect dragged the man to a car, threatening to put him in the trunk.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• line 
• rope