tapper

[tap-er]

noun

a person or thing that taps or strikes lightly.

a telegraph key.

Origin of tapper

First recorded in 1800–10; tap¹ + -er¹

tapper

[tap-er]

noun

a person or thing that taps, as trees for the sap or juice, a blast furnace, cask, or other container for their contents, etc.

a person who cuts screw threads into the surface of a circular opening, as of a pipe, nut, etc.

Origin of tapper

before 1000; Old English tæppere (not recorded in ME); see tap², -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tapper

Contemporary Examples of tapper

Answering Tapper's question, “Under what conditions would you agree to return to the U.S.?”
Edward Snowden: Not All Spying Is Bad
Jacob Siegel
January 24, 2014
When jokes started veering towards the Holocaust, Tapper was quick to wag his finger, as might seem appropriate.
Twitter Killed Media Criticism
Ben Crair
November 21, 2010
Says Tapper: “I certainly don't think that it's the job of any journalist to make the presidency work.”
Who's Afraid of Jake Tapper?
Rachel Sklar
February 10, 2009

Historical Examples of tapper

He almost had them believing in the Space Wave Tapper before he was through.
Toy Shop
Henry Maxwell Dempsey
Then, suddenly, came the sharp click of the “tapper” as it struck the “coherer.”
Historic Inventions
Rupert S. Holland
At first, all our attention is taken up by watching how the one tapper does his work.
Rubber
Edith A. Browne
He was asked what was his trade, and replied that he was a tapper.
Essays of Travel
Robert Louis Stevenson
Suddenly there sounded the sharp click of the tapper as it struck the coherer.
The Story of Great Inventions
Elmer Ellsworth Burns

British Dictionary definitions for tapper

tapper

noun

a person who taps

a tool or instrument that taps

Northern English dialect an unstable and violent person

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