tape

English Online Dictionary. What means tape‎? What does tape mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”). Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /teɪ̯p/, [tʰeɪ̯p]
• Rhymes: -eɪp

Noun

tape (countable and uncountable, plural tapes)

1. Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.

2. Thin and flat paper, plastic or similar flexible material, usually produced in the form of a roll.

3. Finishing tape, stretched across a track to mark the end of a race.

4. Magnetic or optical recording media in a roll; videotape or audio tape.

5. (informal, by extension) Any video or audio recording, regardless of the method used to produce it.
6. (informal) An unthinking, patterned response triggered by a particular stimulus.

7. (trading, from ticker tape) The series of prices at which a financial instrument trades.

8. (ice hockey) The wrapping of the primary puck-handling surface of a hockey stick

9. (printing, historical) A strong flexible band rotating on pulleys for directing the sheets in a printing machine.
10. (possible, obsolete, UK, slang) Liquor, alcoholic drink, especially gin or brandy. (Especially in prison slang or among domestic servants and women.)

    white tape, Holland tape, blue tape (gin); red tape (brandy or wine)

    • 1827 (originally 1755?), Connoisseur, page=223:

      Madam Gin has been christened by as many names as a German princess : every petty chandler's shop will sell you Sky-blue, and every night-cellar furnish you with Holland tape, three yards a penny. Nor can I see the difference […]
11. Clipping of red tape (“time-consuming bureaucratic procedures”).

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

tape (third-person singular simple present tapes, present participle taping, simple past and past participle taped)

1. To bind with adhesive tape.

2. To record, originally onto magnetic tape.

3. (informal, passive voice) To understand, figure out.

Related terms

• roll tape
• tape off
• tape over

Descendants

• → Danish: tape
• → Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tape, teipe

  Nynorsk: tape, teipa

Translations

Anagrams

• PETA, Paet, Pate, Peat, Peta, epta-, pate, peat, peta-, pâté, tepa

Danish

Etymology 1

From English tape (“adhesive tape”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛjp/, [tˢɛjb̥]

Noun

tape c (singular definite tapen, not used in plural form)

1. Scotch tape, adhesive tape

Synonyms

• klisterbånd
• klæbestrimmel

Further reading

• tape on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Etymology 2

From English tape (“magnetic tape”).

Pronunciation

• singular IPA^(key): /tɛjp/, [tˢɛjb̥]
• plural IPA^(key): /tɛjpə/, [ˈtˢɛjb̥ə]

Noun

tape n (singular definite tapet, plural indefinite tapes or tape)

1. (rare) video or audio cassette tape

   Synonym: (more common) bånd

Etymology 3

From English tape (“to bind with adhesive tape”).

Pronunciation

• infinitive IPA^(key): /tɛjpə/, [ˈtˢɛjb̥ə]
• imperative IPA^(key): /tɛjp/, [tˢɛjb̥ˀ]

Verb

tape (imperative tape, infinitive at tape, present tense taper, past tense tapede, perfect tense er/har tapet)

1. tape (to bind with adhesive tape) [from 1965]

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English tape.

Pronunciation

Noun

tape m (plural tapes, diminutive tapeje n)

1. tape

French

Etymology

From taper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tap/

Noun

tape f (plural tapes)

1. a gentle touch
2. a pat

Verb

tape

1. inflection of taper:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tape”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• pâte, pâté
• péta

Galician

Verb

tape

1. inflection of tapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Guaraní

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.ˈpe/

Noun

tape (dependent form rape, third-person possessed form hape)

1. path
2. way
3. street

Indonesian

Noun

tape (first-person possessive tapeku, second-person possessive tapemu, third-person possessive tapenya)

1. Informal form of tapai.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”); forms with a long vowel are difficult to explain.

Alternative forms

• tappe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtap(ə)/, /ˈtaːp(ə)/

Noun

tape (plural tapes)

1. (rare) band, ribbon, tape

Descendants

• English: tape (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: tape
• Yola: taape

References

• “tāpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

tape

1. Alternative form of tappe (“plug”)

Etymology 3

Noun

tape

1. Alternative form of tappe (“gentle touch”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English tape.

Noun

tape m (definite singular tapen, indefinite plural taper, definite plural tapene)

1. alternative form of teip

Verb

tape (present tense taper, past tense tapa or tapet, past participle tapa or tapet)

1. alternative form of teipe

Etymology 2

From Old Norse tapa. Cognate with Danish tabe, Swedish tappa and Faroese tapa.

Verb

tape (present tense taper, past tense tapte, past participle tapt)

1. to lose (opposite of win)

Related terms

• tap

References

• “tape” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tapa. Cognate with Danish tabe, Swedish tappa, and Faroese tapa.

Alternative forms

• tapa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²tɑː.pə/

Verb

tape (present tense tapar or taper, past tense tapa or tapte, supine and past participle tapa or tapt, present participle tapande, imperative tap)

1. to lose (to come last, lose a match, lose money)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English tape.

Pronunciation

• (noun): IPA^(key): /tæɪ̯p/
• (verb): IPA^(key): /²tæɪ̯.pə/

Noun

tape m (definite singular tapen, indefinite plural tapar, definite plural tapane)

1. alternative spelling of teip

Verb

tape (present tense tapar, past tense tapa, past participle tapa, passive infinitive tapast, present participle tapande, imperative tape/tap)

1. alternative spelling of teipa

References

• “tape” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “tapa”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Anagrams

• apte, pate, paté

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ta‧pe
• Rhymes: -api, -apɨ

Verb

tape

1. inflection of tapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Etymology 1

Noun

tape m (plural tapes)

1. (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Philippines) Scotch tape, tape

Etymology 2

Verb

tape

1. inflection of tapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tape”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Yola

Verb

tape

1. Alternative form of teap
   • THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD:

     "Tape"——to turn a car over turning a corner.

References

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 128