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View synonyms for tape

tape

[ teyp ]

noun

  1. a strip of cloth, paper, or plastic with an adhesive surface, used for sealing, binding, or attaching items together; adhesive tape or masking tape.
  2. a long, narrow strip of fabric used for tying garments, binding seams or carpets, etc.
  3. a long, narrow strip of paper, metal, etc.
  4. a magnetic tape carrying recorded sound or images:

    I made a digital copy of that tape of Grandpa playing the violin.

  5. a string stretched across the finishing line in a race and broken by the winning contestant on crossing the line.


verb (used with object)

, taped, tap·ing.
  1. to furnish with a tape or tapes.
  2. to tie up, bind, or attach with tape.
  3. to measure with or as if with a tape measure.
  4. to record or prerecord on magnetic tape.

verb (used without object)

, taped, tap·ing.
  1. to record something on magnetic tape.

tape

/ teɪp /

noun

  1. a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc
  2. any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses
  3. a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course
  4. slang.
    military another word for stripe 1
“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


verb

  1. Alsotape-record also intr to record (speech, music, etc)
  2. to furnish with tapes
  3. to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape
  4. informal.
    usually passive to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up

    he's got the job taped

“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
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Derived Forms

  • ˈtaper, noun
  • ˈtapeˌlike, adjective
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Other Words From

  • tapeless adjective
  • tapelike adjective
  • pre·tape verb (used with object) pretaped pretaping
  • re·tape verb (used with object) retaped retaping
  • un·taped adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tape1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; unexplained variant of tappe, Old English tæppe “strip (of cloth),” literally, “part torn off”; akin to Middle Low German teppen “to tear, pluck”
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tape1

Old English tæppe; related to Old Frisian tapia to pull, Middle Dutch tapen to tear
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Idioms and Phrases

see red tape .
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Example Sentences

Yes, washi tape is cute and that should be a good enough reason to get some.

Using a flexible tailors measuring tape you should wrap the tape around the circumference of your hand around the palm.

There are mask mandates and tape around desks, an attempt to ensure that no one breaches the six-foot social-distancing rule.

In the 45 cases we examined, the harshest penalty any officer received was a loss of 15 vacation days — for punching a teenager and knocking him unconscious in an incident caught on tape that went viral.

We’ve often speculated that guys who don’t have much tape might have an unexpected advantage in that first game out.

My agent at the time sent that tape to SNL and then they asked me to come in for an audition.

I stood with a tape recorder, listening to men denounce the liberal media controlled by Jews.

Is there any better Beyoncé lyric to use in response to the most shocking celebrity tape this side of One Night in Paris?

I watched Garner die on tape and wondered why I was crying so hard when I am not that much of a cryer at all.

Well, because casinos have cameras everywhere, turns out there was indeed a tape.

He gets out and does things while these fatheads stay in quarters and untangle red tape.

A handkerchief, once red, with polka spots, contained a ragged flannel shirt and a stocking-heel tied with a piece of tape.

Black Hood knew what it was to be a policeman with hands bound by red tape or political intrigue.

He ripped the tape clear and then paused, hand outflung, as if he could not resist this final bit of drama.

Even for doctors to obtain it is an undertaking involving considerable red tape.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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