tamper1
[tam-per]
- to meddle, especially for the purpose of altering, damaging, or misusing (usually followed by with): Someone has been tampering with the lock.
- to make changes in something, especially in order to falsify (usually followed by with): to tamper with official records.
- to engage secretly or improperly in something.
- to engage in underhand or corrupt dealings, especially in order to influence improperly (usually followed by with): Any lawyer who tries to tamper with a jury should be disbarred.
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Origin of tamper1
1560–70; probably variant of temper (v.)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for tamper on Thesaurus.com1. interfere.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tampering
Contemporary Examples
Because of this, tampering with the nature of one has an impact on the nature of the other.
Why is he re-introducing the idea of tampering with Medicare in an election year?
Her fellow firefighters strung a giant bra across the firehouse ceiling and endangered her life by tampering with her oxygen tank.
But the argument here is that any tampering with entitlements is a betrayal.
In 2000, Mitchell was accused of disenfranchising thousands of Floridians by tampering with voting lists.
Historical Examples
But to give it to him would be like tampering with his position of complete dependence.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
The planetary rulers had taken no chances of tampering with their propaganda.
The Martian CabalRoman Frederick Starzl
That of being spies and tampering with the aeroplane last night!
Boy Scouts Mysterious SignalG. Harvey Ralphson
Was it not tampering with rectitude to have overcome them by a too persuasive rhetoric?
The Nebuly CoatJohn Meade Falkner
Is that where the strange man was tampering with the lock the day of the auction?
Tom Swift and his Motor-boatVictor Appleton
tamper1
- (usually foll by with) to interfere or meddle
- to use corrupt practices such as bribery or blackmail
- (usually foll by with) to attempt to influence or corrupt, esp by briberyto tamper with the jury
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Word Origin
C16: alteration of temper (verb)
tamper2
- a person or thing that tamps, esp an instrument for packing down tobacco in a pipe
- a casing around the core of a nuclear weapon to increase its efficiency by reflecting neutrons and delaying the expansion
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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
Word Origin and History for tampering
tamper
v.
1560s, figurative use of tamper "to work in clay, etc., so as to mix it thoroughly," probably originally a variant of temper (v.), which is how it was initially spelled. Perhaps it is a dialectal workmen's pronunciation. Related: Tampered; tampering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper