taps

American  

[taps] / tæps /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. a signal by bugle or drum, sounded at night as an order to extinguish all lights, and sometimes performed as a postlude to a military funeral.

---

taps British  

/ tæps /

noun

1. 1. (in army camps, etc) a signal given on a bugle, drum, etc, indicating that lights are to be put out

   2. any similar signal, as at a military funeral

2. (in the Guide movement) a closing song sung at an evening camp fire or at the end of a meeting

---

Etymology

Origin of taps

1815–25, probably tap(too) , variant of tattoo ¹ + -s ³

Example Sentences

While neither of the “Devil Wears Prada” movies revolve around Christianity, the invocation of the devil taps into an older moral rhetoric.

From Salon • May 17, 2026

Spread across the sculpted dash contours is an extra widescreen display, combining the driver information center and center touch-screen functions, its field of crisply animated icons and graphics navigated with the usual swipes and taps.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026

"Audible Story House taps into the nostalgia and community feel of book culture while bringing it fully into the present," the company said.

From Barron's • May 2, 2026

Some 30,000 properties had no water at the height of the issues, with many taps dry for multiple days, during which Hinton faced calls to resign.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Alex taps his G-glasses a few times, and a miniature hologram of a Manifestor man at a news desk floats between us.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas