tape
English
Etymology
From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“band, strip, ribbon, fillet, 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”).
Noun
tape (countable and uncountable, plural tapes)
- Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
- Hand me some tape. I need to fix a tear in this paper.
- Thin and flat paper, plastic or similar flexible material, usually produced in the form of a roll.
- After the party there was tape all over the place.
- Finishing tape, stretched across a track to mark the end of a race.
- Jones broke the tape in 47.77 seconds, a new world record.
- Magnetic or optical recording media in a roll; videotape or audio tape.
- Did you get that on tape?
- (informal, by extension) Any video or audio recording, regardless of the method used to produce it.
- 2018, Susan Edelman, New York Post, 18 Aug 2018
- “It was one of the most severe beatings they’ve seen on tape,” an FDNY insider said, recalling the reaction by brass who viewed video of the bloody fisticuffs.
- 2018, Susan Edelman, New York Post, 18 Aug 2018
- (informal) An unthinking, patterned response triggered by a particular stimulus.
- Old couples will sometimes play tapes at each other during a fight.
- (trading, from ticker tape) The series of prices at which a financial instrument trades.
- Don’t fight the tape.
- (ice hockey) The wrapping of the primary puck-handling surface of a hockey stick
- His pass was right on the tape.
Derived terms
Translations
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Descendants
Verb
tape (third-person singular simple present tapes, present participle taping, simple past and past participle taped)
- To bind with adhesive tape.
- Be sure to tape your parcel securely before posting it.
- To record, particularly onto magnetic tape.
- You shouldn’t have said that. The microphone was on and we were taping.
- (informal, passive) To understand, figure out.
- I've finally got this thing taped.
Related terms
- roll tape
- tape off
Translations
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɛjp/, [tˢɛjb̥]
Usage notes
Rarely used in the sense video or audiocassette tape as a synonym to bånd. In this case it is neuter gender, singular definite tapet, plural indefinite tapes or tape, plural definite tapene.
Synonyms
- klisterbånd
- klæbestrimmel
Further reading
tape on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia da
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tap/
Verb
tape
Further reading
- “tape” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
tape m (definite singular tapen, indefinite plural taper, definite plural tapene)
- alternative form of teip
Verb
tape (present tense taper, past tense tapa or tapet, past participle tapa or tapet)
- alternative form of teipe
Related terms
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
tape m (definite singular tapen, indefinite plural tapar, definite plural tapane)
- alternative form of teip
Verb
tape (present tense tapar, past tense tapa, past participle tapa, passive infinitive tapast, present participle tapande, imperative tap/tape)
- alternative form of teipa
Portuguese
Spanish
Verb
tape