tape
[teyp]
- a long, narrow strip of linen, cotton, or the like, used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.
- a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.
- masking tape.
- tape measure.
- a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.
- ticker tape.
- magnetic tape.
- magnetic tape
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- to furnish with a tape or tapes.
- to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.
- tape measure.
- magnetic tape.
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Origin of tape
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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tape
Contemporary Examples
My agent at the time sent that tape to SNL and then they asked me to come in for an audition.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s GreatnessMarlow Stern
January 7, 2015
I stood with a tape recorder, listening to men denounce the liberal media controlled by Jews.
I watched Garner die on tape and wondered why I was crying so hard when I am not that much of a cryer at all.
Well, because casinos have cameras everywhere, turns out there was indeed a tape.
When Roger first heard what happened and saw the tape he was shocked, truly shocked, and outraged.
Historical Examples
But it was not around their uncle that the tape measure went, it was around Bob!
Sure Pop and the Safety ScoutsRoy Rutherford Bailey
The tape is first folded and creased by rubbing over an edge.
Boys' Book of Model BoatsRaymond Francis Yates
Roll the meat of the feet up in the pork, tie it up in a cloth with tape round it, and boil it till it becomes very tender.
When quite tender take off the tape, lay the meat on a dish, strain the gravy over it, and serve it up with currant jelly.
Roll the meat up as tight as possible, and bind it round with a cloth and tape; then boil it gently for seven or eight hours.
tape
- 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)
- See magnetic tape, ticker tape, paper tape, tape recording
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- 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 uphe's got the job taped
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Word Origin
Old English tæppe; related to Old Frisian tapia to pull, Middle Dutch tapen to tear
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 tape
n.
Old English tæppe "narrow strip of cloth used for tying, measuring, etc.," of uncertain origin, perhaps a back-formation from Latin tapete "carpet." The original short vowel became long in Middle English.
Tape recorder "device for recording sound on magnetic tape" first attested 1932; from earlier meaning "device for recording data on ticker tape" (1892), from tape in the sense of "paper strip of a printer" (1884). Tape-measure is attested from 1873; tape-delay is from 1968.
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v.
c.1600, from tape (n.); meaning "to make a tape recording" is from 1950. Related: Taped; taping.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with tape
tape
see red tape.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.