Meaning of tap In English

• 0 to hit something gently, and often repeatedly, especially making short, sharp noises:

  • The branches tapped against the window.

  • I could hear him tapping his fingers on the desk.

  • I was tapping my feet (= hitting the floor gently with my feet) to the music.

  • Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

  • You can manage the repeat and shuffle options by tapping the screen once and swiping to the left.

  • When I tapped on the update button, the screen went blank.

• 1 to get or make use of something:

  • For more than a century, Eastern cities have expanded their water supplies by tapping ever more remote sources.

  • There is a rich vein of literary talent here just waiting to be tapped by publishers.

• 2 to use a small device attached to a phone in order to listen secretly to what people are saying:

  • He suspected that his phone had been tapped.

• 3 a device that controls the flow of liquid, especially water, from a pipe:

  • the hot/cold tap

  • Turn the tap on/off.

  • Some beer taps produced more foam than beer.

  • Working in a library as I do, I have all this information on tap.

• 4 a gentle knock or touch, or the noise made by knocking something gently:

  • I gave her a tap on the shoulder and she turned around.

  • There was a tap on the window - Dad was outside!

• 5 →  tap dancing :

  • He teaches tap and ballroom.

• 6 a small piece of equipment that can be attached to a phone in order to listen secretly to someone's phone calls:

  • He claims that he knew nothing of government phone taps on journalists during those years.

• 7 a sound made by the tongue moving upwards and downwards very quickly and hitting the alveolar area

• 8 to hit something lightly and quickly, or to make a sound by doing this:

  • [ T ] She tapped the back of his hand.

  • [ I ] Casey is tapping away at his computer.

• 9 to obtain or make use of something:

  • [ T ] Their try to tap the students’ natural abilities.

  • [ I ] I can tap into computers all over the world.

• 10 to wiretap a telephone

• 11 a device that controls the flow of liquid, esp. water; a faucet:

  • Please turn off the tap.

• 12 a quick and light hit, or the sound that this makes :

  • She gave him a tap on the shoulder.

  • There was a tap at the door.

• 13 a wiretap:

  • They put a tap on her phone.

• 14 to get or make use of something that exists, such as money, skills, information, energy, etc.:

  • The company has tapped a $8750 general fund surplus to pay for the building projects.

  • Ultra-deep water drilling techniques allow them to tap energy reserves once thought to be out of reach.

  • tap into sth They are driven by a desire to tap into this lucrative commercial market.

  • tap sth for sth Do we have any assets that can be tapped for capital?

• 15 to choose someone for a job:

  • tap sb to do sth The board tapped him to lead the company through bankruptcy reorganization.

• 16 to put information, numbers, etc. into a computer, telephone, etc. by pressing buttons:

  • tap away at/on sth When I came in, she was tapping away at her computer.

  • tap sth into sth He tapped his password into the computer.

  • tap sth in Shoppers may also be asked to tap in identity numbers at tills.

  • tap sth out SMS allows people to send messages tapped out on the telephone keypad.

• 17 a piece of equipment that controls the flow of liquid or gas from a pipe:

  • Water was pouring out of all the taps.

  • a gas tap

• 18 available for use at any time:

  • With the internet, firms have all this information on tap.

  • Many investors are worried about what's on tap when the markets reopen tomorrow morning.

  • The company has about 115 new stores on tap for 2012.