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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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”

Explanation

Tape is a sticky strip of material you can use for fastening paper or other light objects. You can use a piece of tape to tape a "Keep Out" sign to your bedroom door. A long strip marked with inches or centimeters is a measuring tape, and this is actually the earliest meaning of the word tape. It evolved to be used for many narrow strips, like the tape a marathon runner breaks through at the finish line, the crime scene tape that police use to mark off an area, or the tape you use for recording sound or video.

Example Sentences

Tape of Chambliss had left their jaws hanging, and they could only imagine what he might accomplish in Kiffin’s up-tempo attack.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026

Arrows reacted swiftly and substitute Keenan Phillips set up a tense finish by scoring with a close-range shot across Ivorian goalkeeper Eliezer Tape.

From Barron's • Nov. 23, 2025

After he was detained, Tape told officers: "I lost my head, I've been losing my head the last two or three years."

From BBC • Sep. 1, 2025

Perry recalls that the song’s producer, David Tickle, “wanted to ‘produce’ the song and make it fancy,” as she put it to Tape Op.

From Salon • May 26, 2025

Tape measures around their necks, and a welcome new supply of thimbles.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• line
• rope