Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A continuous narrow, flexible strip of cloth, metal, paper, or plastic, such as adhesive tape, magnetic tape, or ticker tape.
  • noun A narrow strip of strong woven fabric, as that used in sewing or bookbinding.
  • noun A string stretched across the finish line of a racetrack to be broken by the winner.
  • noun A length, reel, or cassette of magnetic tape.
  • noun A recording made on magnetic tape.
  • noun A tape measure.
  • intransitive verb To fasten, secure, strengthen, or wrap with a tape.
  • intransitive verb To record (sounds or pictures) on magnetic tape or other electronic storage medium.
  • intransitive verb To measure with a tape measure.
  • intransitive verb To make a recording on magnetic tape or other electronic storage medium.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A measuring-tape which has one or more flexible wires woven into its length so that stretching may be prevented when the tape is used out of doors in wet weather. The steel tape has replaced this.
  • noun A mole.
  • To furnish with tape or tapes; attach tape to; tie up with tape; in bookbinding, to join the sections of (a book) by bands of tape.
  • To draw out as tape; extend.
  • noun A band of linen; an ornamental fillet or piece.
  • noun A narrow strip of linen or of cotton, white or dyed of different colors, used as string for tying up papers, etc., or sewed to articles of apparel, to keep them in position, give strength, etc.
  • noun A narrow, flexible band of any strong fabric, rotating on pulleys, which presses and guides the movement of sheets in a printing-machine or paper-folding machine.
  • noun In telegraphy, the strip of paper used in a printing telegraph-instrument.
  • noun A tape-line; a tape-measure.
  • noun A long narrow fillet or band of metal or mineral: as, a corundum tape.
  • noun Red tape. See the phrase below.
  • noun A tapeworm.
  • noun Spirituous or fermented drink.
  • noun Hence— The transaction of public business as if it consisted essentially in the making, indorsing, taping, and filing of papers in regular routine; excessive attention to formality and routine without regard to the right of the government or of the parties concerned to a reasonably speedy conclusion of the case.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Elec.) To furnish with tape; to fasten, tie, bind, or the like, with tape
  • transitive verb to record on audio tape or video tape; -- either directly, at the scene of the action tape, or indirectly, as from a broadcast of the action.
  • noun A narrow fillet or band of cotton or linen; a narrow woven fabric used for strings and the like.
  • noun A tapeline; also, a metallic ribbon so marked as to serve as a tapeline.
  • noun See under Red.
  • noun (Bot.) a plant (Vallisneria spiralis) with long ribbonlike leaves, growing in fresh or brackish water; -- called also fresh-water eelgrass, and, in Maryland, wild celery.
  • noun See Bodkin, n., 4.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides, adhesive tape.
  • verb To bind with adhesive tape.
  • verb To record, particularly onto magnetic tape.
  • verb informal, passive To understand, figure out.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a long thin piece of cloth or paper as used for binding or fastening
  • verb fasten or attach with tape
  • noun a recording made on magnetic tape
  • noun measuring instrument consisting of a narrow strip (cloth or metal) marked in inches or centimeters and used for measuring lengths
  • verb record on videotape
  • verb register electronically
  • noun the finishing line for a foot race
  • noun memory device consisting of a long thin plastic strip coated with iron oxide; used to record audio or video signals or to store computer information

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, strip of cloth, from Old English *tæppe or *tæppa (attested only in the plural tæppan).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English tæppe.

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