| 释义 |
▪ I. tape, n.1|teɪp|
Forms: 1 tæppe, (5 tappe, 6 tapp); 4– tape.
[OE. tæppe or tæppa (nom. not found); origin unascertained. The lengthening of the vowel from ME. tappe to tāpe is unexplained.]
1. a. A narrow woven strip of stout linen, cotton, silk, or other textile, used as a string for tying garments, and for other purposes for which flat strings are suited, also for measuring lines, etc.
c1000ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 107/33 Tenia, tæppan (pl.), uel dolsmeltas. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 55 The tapes of hir white voluper Were of the same suyte of hir coler. c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 655/15 Hec tenea, tappe. 1519Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 5 For tapis for iijo Amys id ob. 1573–80Baret Alv. T 60 A Tape, to knit the apron about with. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2529/4 Lost.., a black Box..tied about with a white Tape. 1805Trans. Soc. Arts, etc. XXIII. 119 A measuring tape..having inches on one side. 1833Holland Manuf. Metal II. 225 When the rollers revolve, the motion of the tapes carry the sheet of paper with them, and deliver it over another roller,..where it is taken up by two sets of endless tapes. 1879J. Grant in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 270/1 A partner in the manufactory of inkles and tapes.
b. Without article, as name of the material or substance. Also fig.: see red-tape.
1537–8Rec. St. Mary at Hill 378 Paid for silke tape iijs iiijd. 1546in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 184 For viij yardes and a half of tape. 1653Walton Angler vii. 158 A convenient quantitie of tape or filiting. 1714Gay Sheph. Week Monday 37 This pouch, that's ty'd with tape of reddest hue. 1856Reade Never too late to mend xxv, Twenty years gone in tape and circumlocution. 1898J. Berwick Philos. Romance iv. 46 Reams of blue paper tied with pink tape.
c. A piece of tape suspended across the course at the finishing point in a race, or (formerly) between the goal-posts in Association football; in Horse-racing, a tape or set of tapes suspended across the course at the starting-point of a race; also fig. Also used lit. or fig. in phrases: to breast the tape, to reach the finishing-line in a race; on the tape, at the very end of a race.
1867Routledge's Handbk. Football 54 Football Association Rules... A goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal-posts under the tape. 1868H. F. Wilkinson Mod. Athletics 17–18 The Goal..should consist of a piece of stout white tape tied to the post at one side..and held loosely by the judge across the course, so that when the winner passes the post he may carry the tape away. 1880Times 12 Nov. 4/5 The ball is shot under the tape or over the bar, and the call of time immediately afterwards proclaims the game at an end. 1903Punch 11 Feb. 103/1 Though a toughish task remains Before I breast the tape, J. Chamberlain, of Birmingham, Will round (or square) the Cape. 1916J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xvii. 270 ‘They've got me on the tape!’ he cried; ‘but I'm satisfied.’ 1922Joyce Ulysses 608 Judge of his astonishment when he finally did breast the tape and the awful truth dawned upon him anent his better half, wrecked in his affections. 1937‘P. Wentworth’ Case is Closed vii. 72 He was running in his school sports, winning the hundred yards again, breasting the tape, hearing the applause break out. 1955Times 13 Aug. 4/2 Wheeler..regained the ground he had lost and just robbed the Hungarian of victory on the tape. 1957D. Francis Sport of Queens vi. 122 The six or seven stranded starting tapes familiar in flat racing are not used for National Hunt racing. A single strand across the course is pulled down to a catch at shoulder level, and when this is released..the tape flies up at an oblique angle. 1963Times 21 Feb. 4/5 They were described by an official observer after the last N.E.D.C. meeting as ‘just coming up to the tapes’.
d. Army and R.A.F. slang. A chevron indicating rank worn by a non-commissioned officer on the upper part of the coat-sleeve; a stripe (stripe n.3 2).
1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 64 Tapes, the stripes worn by Corporals, Sergeants, and Flight Sergeants in the R.A.F. and by Lance-Corporals or Lance-Bombardiers, Corporals or Bombardiers, and Sergeants in the Army. 1944Gen 15 Jan. 9/2 That binder's working for his tapes. 1944R.A.F. Jrnl. Aug. 258, I wouldn't leave this unit for three tapes.
2. a. A long, narrow, thin and flexible strip of metal or the like; esp. such a strip of steel used as a measuring line in surveying.
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 77/2 Solid Copper Tape Lightning Conductor. 1884Edin. Rev. July 48 The main stem of the conductor shall consist of a copper rod or tape. 1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Surv. xxi. 500 The steel tape is capable of giving a precision indicated by a probable error of one 2,000,000th part of a measured line. Ibid., Base measurement with steel tapes.
b. The paper strip or ribbon on which messages are printed in the receiving instrument of a recording telegraph system. Also used in computing and data processing; = paper tape s.v. paper n. 12.
1884Pall Mall G. 27 Dec. 5/2 This ‘tape’ is supplied by a telegraphic company, and automatically records in dozens of different offices in the City the variation of prices from hour to hour inside the House. 1888Besant 50 Years Ago 213 Now we watch the tape, day by day, and hour by hour. 1905Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 171 Punching and feeding the tape forward is performed by an electro⁓magnet. Ibid. 172 To produce a type-printed page from the record perforated on the tape. 1945J. Von Neumann in B. Randell Origins of Digital Computers (1973) 355 These instructions must be given in some form which the device can sense. Punched into a system of punchcards or on teletype tape, magnetically impressed on steel tape or wire, [etc.]. 1948Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation III. 8 Orders to the machine..are represented on tape by all combinations of three holes out of six. 1960M. G. Say et al. Analogue & Digital Computers ix. 266 The only problem in fast photoelectric reading arises when the tape has to be set in motion and stopped so rapidly that [etc.]. 1978D. D. Spencer Data Processing v. 105 Data are often hand-sorted before being punched into the tape.
c. = magnetic tape s.v. magnetic a. 5. Cf. steel tape (b) s.v. steel n.1 18.
1932Radio Times 29 July 239/3 The Blattnerphone is an invention for recording magnetically upon steel tape. 1942Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLVI. Abstr. Sci. & Technical Press 68 It consists of recording a sound pattern magnetically on steel tape. The signal is picked up from the tape at frequent split-second intervals. 1953Newsweek 11 May 28/1 It was recorded on tape and was broadcast later that day. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media xviii. 295 Tape and the l.p. record suddenly made the phonograph a means of access to all the music and speech of the world. 1982Times 26 Oct. 15/7 Access to specific pieces of information is far faster on a compact, rapidly spinning disk than on a long ribbon of tape.
d. A length or reel of (magnetic or paper) tape; a recording on tape.
c1946[see subroutine]. 1952W. Stevens Let. 13 May (1967) 750, I read at Cambridge a week or two ago and apparently someone in the audience took a tape. 1956G. A. Montgomerie Digital Calculating Machines x. 213 The instructions are punched in the tapes in a very simple notation. 1966Listener 25 Aug. 287/2 This production came via a tape from the Holland Festival. 1977New Yorker 22 Aug. 56/3 Most thefts of computer tapes are probably not reported to the police. 1978D. D. Spencer Data Processing v. 105 Both the tapes and the tape-producing equipment require less space than punched cards and card-producing equipment. 1983D. Dunnett Dolly & Bird of Paradise v. 54 Kim-Jim loved telly films... I had brought a lot of tapes with me.
e. Used in names designating (paper, transparent film, etc.) tape coated with adhesive and used for fastening packages, etc.; usu. as the final element of a Comb., as adhesive tape, Scotch tape, Sellotape, sticky tape: see under first element.
1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 99 Tape, gummed paper strip used to hold the edges of veneer together while the glue dries.
3. slang. Spirituous liquor, esp. gin (white tape); red tape, brandy. Cf. ribbon n. 4 c.
1725New Cant. Dict., Tape, Red or White, Geneva, Aniseed, Clove-Water, &c. so called by Canters and Villains, and the Renters of the Tap..in Newgate, and other Prisons. 1755Connoisseur No. 53 ⁋4 Every night-cellar [will] furnish you with Holland Tape, three yards a penny. 1830Lytton P. Clifford x. (1854) 80 Red tape those as likes it may drain. 1837Thackeray Ravenswing vi, Gin.., under the name of ‘tape’, used to be measured out pretty liberally in what was..his Majesty's prison of the Fleet.
4. attrib. and Comb., as, in sense 1, tape-length, tape-maker, tape-making, tape-moulding, tape-purl (purl n.1 2), tape-ribbon, tape-seller, tape-string, tape-stripe, tape-weaver, tape-work; tape-like, tape-slashing adjs.; in sense 2 b, ‘of, or recorded by, the telegraphic tape’, tape-price, tape boy, tape-report, tape-system; tape-printing adj.; in senses 2 c, d tape editing, tape editor, tape eraser, tape head [head n. 11 g], tape speed, tape splicing; tape-controlled, tape-playing adjs.; (in sense 2 e) tape dispenser. Also tape-bound a., bound with tape; = tape-tied; tape-carrier, a frame in which a tape sprinkled with powdered corundum is mounted as a cutting or filing instrument; tape cartridge = tape cassette (see also quot. 1983); tape cassette = cassette d; tape-check Mus.: in an upright pianoforte, a type of check (check n.1 10 d) developed by Robert Wornum (1780–1852) and incorporating a tape; also attrib. in tape-check action; tape deck (see deck n.1 3 f); tape-delay, the use of a tape recorder to introduce an interval between recording and playing back or transmitting (cf. delay n. 1 c); tape drive, a tape transport or tape deck for use in computing; tape-fish, an eel-like fish having a flat elongated body, a ribbon-fish; tape-fuse, a ribbon-like fuse, very rapid in action; tape-grass, an aquatic herb, Vallisneria spiralis, with narrow grass-like leaves; tape guipure Lace-making (see quots. 1865, 1881); tape hiss, extraneous high-frequency background noise during the playing of a tape recording; tape-line, a line of tape; spec. a strip of linen or steel marked with subdivisions of the foot or metre, sometimes coiling in a cylindrical case with a winch or spring; tape loop = loop n.1 4 k; tape-machine, (a) the receiving instrument of a recording telegraph system, in which the message is printed on a paper tape; (b) = tape-sizing machine (Cent. Dict., Supp. 1909); tape-man, in Surveying, each of the two men who measure with the tape-line; tape-measure, a measuring line of prepared tape, marked with feet and inches, etc., esp. one of five or six feet long used by tailors, dressmakers, etc.; also as v. trans., to measure with a tape-measure; hence tape measurement; tape-needle, an eyed bodkin for inserting tape; tape player, a machine for playing (cassette) tape recordings; cf. record player s.v. record n. 14; tape-primer, an obsolete primer for fire-arms, consisting of a flexible paper or other band containing small fulminating charges at equal distances; tape punch Computers, a device which punches holes in paper tape in patterns that represent coded information; also tape-punching; tape reader Computers, a device for sensing information recorded by sequences of holes or magnetized areas on computer tape (see reader 7); also tape reading; tape reproducer, a machine that plays or reads tapes but does not record or punch them; tapescript [after transcript, typescript, etc.], a tape recording of the spoken word, esp. in the form of a lesson, interview, etc.; a transcript or text of this; tape-sizer, a man in charge of the machine (tape-sizing machine or tape-machine) for sizing the cotton warp threads to be used in weaving; = taper n.3; tape-stretcher, a contrivance to maintain a uniform tension of the measuring line in surveying; tape-ticker = tape-machine; tape-tied a., tied with tape; also fig., bound by ‘red-tape’, restricted by officialism; so tape-tying a.; tape transport, a mechanism which controls the movement of recording tape past a stationary head; also, a tape deck. See also tape recorder.
1900Westm. Gaz. 5 July 5/2 Should the *tape-bound authorities in Pall Mall blankly refuse to equip..the 320 extra men.
1969Listener 2 Jan. 12/1, I was in the Newsroom:..where..*tape boys..bore in huge foaming trays of paper strip to the duty editors.
1961High Fidelity Trade News Sept. 55/3 Foley Electronics offers..an automatic *tape cartridge playback unit employing the endless loop principle. 1972Observer (Colour Suppl.) 22 Oct. 53/2 Tape cartridges are plentiful, even if cassette material is strangely lagging. 1983D. H. Sandars Computers Today vi. 159 (caption) Magnetic tape cartridges are used in minicomputers and data entry stations. This tape is 1/4 inch wide and varies from 140 to 450 feet in length... Magnetic tape cassettes are used in microcomputers and data entry stations. This tape is either 150 or 300 feet long.
1972G. V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle xv. 88 He opened the glove compartment and removed a *tape cassette. 1983Tape cassette [see tape cartridge above].
1929Evening News 18 Nov. 2/6 Pianette... Iron frame. *Tape check action. 1954Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 5) VI. 739/1 We must now turn our attention to an action known as the ‘tape-check’. 1966W. L. Sumner Pianoforte iii. 66 A later model anticipated the tape-check action, which prevented the hammer from giving unwanted repetition.
1962Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 98 *Tape-controlled carriage.
1949, etc. *Tape deck [see deck n.1 3 f]. 1967Oxf. Computer Explained 7 A new configuration..consisting of twelve 30 kc tape decks, a high speed printer, a paper-tape reader, and a monitor printer. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xii. 242 His stereo tape-deck only a few seconds away from the enormous climax of Also Sprach Zarathustra.
1968Listener 12 Dec. 802/3 The music dissolves again, surmounted by quiet seagull sounds produced by high squeaks of feed back multiplied by means of *tape-delay. 1982Ibid. 18 Aug. 27/1 The catalyst which sets Clocks and Clouds in motion is the gradual de-synchronisation of identical melodic patterns—the classic ‘tape-delay’ device of electronic music.
1975New Yorker 10 Mar. 31/1 An automatic *tape dispenser.
1952Proc. Electronic Computer Symp., Los Angeles (IRE Prof. Group Electronic Computers) 4 (heading) Survey of *tape drive systems. 1978J. McNeil Consultant x. 114 The computers..showed little signs of life beyond the occasional twitch from the tape drives. 1983D. H. Sandars Computers Today vi. 163 Before the data on a magnetic tape can be processed by a computer, the tape must be placed in a machine called a tape drive or tape transport.
1961Times 17 Apr. 3/1 Knowledge of radio-production and *tape-editing. 1973G. Talbot Ten Seconds from Now xix. 239 A wonderland of recording rooms and tape-editing suites.
1959‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene x. 169 Recording supervisors, sound engineers and *tape editors.
1958Oxf. Mail 27 Aug. (Suppl.) 4/6 (Advt.), The..*tape eraser will erase the contents of a spool of tape of any size up to ten inches at one operation.
1885C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 101 The band or *tape-fishes, from their snake-like appearance, are first worthy of notice.
1857Gray First Lessons Bot. (1866) 167 This may be..seen..in the leaves of the Freshwater *Tape-Grass (Vallisneria), under a good microscope.
1865F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace iii. 35 In that class called by the lace-makers ‘*tape guipure’, the outline of the flowers is formed by a pillow or hand-made braid about the eighth of an inch in width, the middle filled in with the needle. 1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 94 Tape-guipure, made of linen tape twisted and folded into a pattern, held together with bars and then filled in and enriched with needlework. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 246/2 An embroidery worked in imitation of the Tape Guipure Laces.
1960Practical Wireless XXXVI. 401/2 (Advt.), Luxury model with press-button inputs to suit any pick-up or tuner and most *tape-heads. 1980Sunday Times 24 Aug. 14/7 Magnetic patterns on the tape are translated by a tape-head into electrical impulses.
1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 38 There may be *tape hiss due to setting the gain too low. 1977Gramophone Oct. 638/2 The tape hiss seems now to be higher too.
1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Surv. xxiii. 533 Both tapemen keep a record of the number of *tape-lengths between stations.
1880Barwell Aneurism 6 Broad, *tape-like ligatures were used. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 838 The passage of pipe-like or tape-like motions is..due merely to the action of the sphincter.
1847Webster, *Tapeline. 1858in Simmonds Dict. Trade. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 91 A few measurements..taken on the spot with a tape-line.
1962*Tape loop [see loop n.1 4 k]. 1976W. H. Canaway Willow-Pattern War xx. 199 The signal would be going out from a tape-loop.
1891Daily News 9 Apr. 7/1 Some twenty or thirty men, who were crowding round a ‘*tape machine’..waiting for the result of the second race of the day to come through.
1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Surv. xxiv. 532 The *tapemen measure the distance with the steel tape, which is stretched by a twenty-pound tension on the front end by the fore tapeman with a spring-balance.
1873Young English-woman Mar. 151/2 Pin your *tape-measure down on one of the fronts. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tape-measure. 1907Westm. Gaz. 20 Mar. 10/1 As tested by the tape-measure..the..giantess might make an excellent claim to be the ‘greatest’ woman who has ever lived.
1962L. Deighton Ipcress File xxv. 158 Birth marks..were photographed and *tape measured. 1971Laver & Collins Educ. Tennis Player i. 19 Dave Anderson..tape-measured me..and reported that my left forearm is twelve inches around.
1922Joyce Ulysses 523 *Tape measurements will be taken next your skin.
1863Archæol. Cantiana V. 14 A portion of the old *tape moulding or parallel band.
1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv, I'll look your box over.—Thimble, wax,..scissors, knife, *tape-needle; all right. 1880Plain Hints Needlework 68 Tape-needle is generally used in the North of England instead of this word [bodkin]—and..would be better if more generally used, to describe what it really is, a needle to run a piece of tape into a hem, or caseing.
1961High Fidelity Trade News Sept. 55/3 (heading) Foley presents ‘endless loop’ *tape player. 1977New Yorker 24 Oct. 112/3 Such misdeeds as..having a tape player on too loud.
1962Times 5 July 15/6 *Tape-playing equipment to the value of some {pstlg}160 altogether was being used.
1889Hints to Speculators (G. Gregory & Co.) (ed. 5) 20 Deal at *tape prices. 1895Daily News 14 June 5/2 The machines set up in the offices record the prices on the familiar strips of paper from which the name of ‘tape prices’ is taken. 1903Q. Rev. Jan. 106 Tape-prices do not represent actual transactions.
1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2495/2 The *tape-primer required a peculiar lock, having a recess for containing the tape and mechanism for advancing each primer successively to the nipple.
1903Westm. Gaz. 25 Aug. 2/3 The fee charged for maintaining and superintending the *tape-printing telegraph machine which supplies the Peers with news in the Prince's Chamber.
1947*Tape punch [see tape reader below]. 1967A. Battersby Network Analysis (ed. 2) viii. 134 The sheets are then passed to a tape-punch operator who converts the information on them into a punched tape.
1951M. V. Wilkes et al. Preparation of Programs for Electronic Digital Computer 42 (heading) *Tape punching and editing facilities.
a1652Brome Queen & Concub. iv. i, Lol. Can you handle the Bobbins well, good Woman? Make statute-Lace? you shall have my Daughter. Pogg. And mine, to make *Tape-Purles.
1947Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 355 In addition to these parts there are..a drum commutator for operating the relays, a *tape reader and a tape punch. 1964C. Dent Quantity Surveying by Computer iii. 26 The program is all ready to be read by the input tape-reader at 300 characters per second. 1972M. Woodhouse Mama Doll x. 143 It's frequency-coded for a tape-reader.
1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xv. 237 *Tape reading and tape writing can go on partly simultaneously, if the design of the computer allows it.
1901Westm. Gaz. 20 June 6/3 The ‘*tape’ report..said there was no opposition to the Charing Cross, Euston, and Hampstead Railway scheme.
1961*Tape reproducer [see reproducer 2]. 1962Gloss. Terms Autom. Data Processing (B.S.I.) 97 Tape reproducer, a machine used to copy and edit paper tape. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 246 Control cubicle (BBC), the soundproof room equipped with control desk, gramophone and tape reproducers and high quality loudspeaker.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. §128 He commanded every Man to tye a white *tape Ribban, or Handkerchief above the Elbow of their right Arme.
1961J. S. Holton et al. Sound Lang. Teaching 248 *Tapescript, term used to describe the written program (exercises and instructions) that the teacher has prepared for recording a language laboratory lesson. 1969John Edwards Mem. Foundation Q. V. 1. 10 These tapescripts..are resumés of interviews of artists. 1983Financial Times 16 Apr. 14 It is telly docu-drama at its most truth-honouring; based on real tapescripts, speeches and official records.
1835Willis Pencillings I. ii. 20 The Marseilles *tapeseller.
1897S. Webb Indust. Democ. I. iv. iv. 105–6; II. ii. x. 478 *Tape-sizers.
1891Labour Commission Gloss., The machine used by the taper is called the *tape-sizing machine.
1882Standard 7 Sept. 2/3 The enormous *tape-slashing machines,..followed.
1954Gramophone Record Rev. Jan. 139/1 With a *tape speed of 7½ ins. per second the capstan thus makes about 80 revolutions per second.
1956Language XXXII. 281 These experiments served as a test for two *tape-splicing techniques.
1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Surv. xxi. 501 *Tape-stretchers.
1871Figure Training 57 The ladies..prohibit all restriction of the waist except by the aid of a broad band and *tape-strings.
1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xx. v. (1873) IX. 78 These long lanes, or *tape-stripes of the Torgau Forest.
1904Daily News 6 July 7 Mr. Francis E. Macmahon, inventor of the *tape ticker, died very suddenly at Newmarket yesterday morning.
1732Pope Ep. Bathurst 301 A flock-bed..With *tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. 502 Whose desk and table make a solemn show, With tape-tied trash. 1900Daily News 1 Aug. 3/1 Good scouts..of more importance to an army in the field than all the tape-tied intelligence officers out of Hades.
1954Trans. IRE Audio II. 23/1 The overall design of a *tape transport for a professional tape recording system is very complex. 1981Hi-Fi Answers Nov. 117/1 The tape transport is press button controlled, and operation appears to be achieved by a combination of mechanical and electrical means. 1983Tape transport [see tape drive above].
1832Fraser's Mag. Oct. 382 The *tape-tying crew who had wriggled themselves into office.
1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6380/12 Robert Johnson,..*Tape-weaver.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 208 The paper supports itself all through the machine, and the *tapework is reduced to a minimum.
Add:[4.] tape streamer Computing, a streaming tape drive (see *streaming ppl. a. 7).
1981Electronics 17 Nov. 188/1 (caption) 125-in./s *tape streamer has capstan and tensioner for 45-in./s start-stop operation. 1985Which Computer? Apr. 66/1 Connections can be made to..an external tapestreamer.
▪ II. tape, n.2 dial.|teɪp|
[var. of talpe, taupe: cf. chafe from Fr. chauffer.]
The mole.
1847–78Halliw., Tape, a mole. South. 1881Isle of Wight Gloss., Tape, or Teype, a mole, or want. Tape-taker, a mole-catcher.
▪ III. tape, v.|teɪp|
[f. tape n.1]
1. a. trans. To attach a tape or tapes to; to supply with a tape; to fit with tapes; to tie up, fasten, bind, or wind with tape (also fig.); spec. in Bookbinding, to join the sections of (a book) with tape. Also, to affix or fasten (up) with adhesive tape.
1609T. Cocks Diary (1901) 85 Given nursse for tapinge & starchinge my cuffes ijd. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xv. (1857) 347 Of that accessible store-house in which the memories of past events lie arranged and taped up. 1854E. Mayhew Dogs (1861) 241 [He] first, by way of precaution, tapes the animal; that is, he forms a temporary muzzle, by binding a piece of tape thrice firmly round the creature's mouth. 1859Thackeray Virgin. lxxxiv, Every scrap of paper which we ever wrote, our thrifty parent..taped and docketed and put away. 1894S. R. Bottone Electr. Instr. Making (ed. 6) 115 The armature must also be most carefully taped and varnished. No part of the iron, where the wire has to be wound, should be left uncovered. 1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest iv. 259 Alvarez taped three copies of this note to instrument boxes. 1972Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 18 Jan. 17/1 Every girl..should clip it out and tape it to her bedroom mirror. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) i. i. 36 Daphne had taped up small museum reproductions of famous paintings and prints.
b. spec. to bind or gag (a victim, etc.) with adhesive tape. Also with up.
1932‘Spindrift’ Yankee Slang 60 Tape a guy, gag a victim with adhesive plaster. 1950‘P. Quentin’ Follower xix. 135 Once they'd taped his wrists, all hope would be gone. 1962‘H. Howard’ Double Finesse vi. 69 It shouldn't take Alan longer than that to tape the night-watchman's mouth. 1977D. Anthony Stud Game xiv. 84 He knocks you out..tapes you up neatly, and calls us to come and get you. 1981P. Mallory Killing Matter xv. 157 Tie her and tape her.
2. a. trans. To measure with a tape-line.
1886[implied in taping ppl. a. below].
b. Gunnery. To get the range of (a position), by means of a tape-line used in conjunction with a range-finder; hence, to hit and silence (a target).
See also sense 5 below.
1917A. G. Empey From Fire Step xi. 65 Our artillery had taped or silenced them [sc. the trench mortars]. Ibid. xxi. 146 The German artillery..had us taped (ranged) for fair; it was worth your life to expose yourself for an instant. 1919J. B. Morton Barber of Putney iii. 45 There's a sniper got that corner taped. 1919G. K. Rose 2/4th Oxf. & Bucks L.I. 36 The Pozières ridge, whose crest was well ‘taped’ by the German guns. 1927E. Thompson These Men thy Friends iii. 70 ‘He tried them at sixteen hundred yards, and got nowhere near them—lengthened the range a thousand, and was still short. But Johnny [Turk] had us taped’ he added. ‘No bothering about mirage for him. He knew the land and the distance of every blotch and pimple on it.’
3. intr. To appear (of such a size) on measurement with a tape; to measure (so much).
1895J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt (1899) 237 note, A good Mashonaland head seldom tapes more than 12 inches.
4. trans. Sc. To measure out in tape-lengths; to deal out slowly or sparingly; to use sparingly.
1721Ramsay To R.H.B. vii, Then let us grip our Bliss mair sicker, And tape our Heal and sprightly Liquor. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, Ye sall hae a' my skill and knowledge to gar the siller gang far—I'll tape it out weel.
5. Colloq. phr. to get or have (someone or something) taped: to size up, ascertain, or understand fully (someone or something).
The development of this phrase is unclear. It may have arisen as a figurative use of sense 1 with the idea of ‘tying up, having under control or in order’ (cf. quot. 1854) or of sense 2 with the idea of ‘measuring, assessing’.
1914Joyce Dubliners 210, I never saw such an eye in a man's head. It was at much as to say: I have you properly taped, my lad. He had an eye like a hawk. 1919War Slang in Athenæum 18 July 632/2 ‘I got you taped,’ an N.C.O. may say to a man, meaning ‘I know what you are up to.’ 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions i. iv. 114 We've made a 'ell of a bad break if we tell 'er oo we are and then there's nothing doin'. Got us taped then. 1944A. E. Coppard in Wine & Food xliii. 153, I want to get off the land. Can you find a boat? Not a motor⁓boat, that's noisy and they've got the harbour taped for sure. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Mar. 142/4 The main part of the book, with its cold effort to get Mencken ‘taped’. 1977Evening Post (Nottingham) 27 Jan. 6/5 And so say all of us. Let's hope Portland have illiteracy ‘taped’.
6. To record on (magnetic) tape; to make a tape recording of. Also absol.
1950Senior Scholastic 1 Mar. 25t (heading) We tape it. Recorders produce a transformation in the classroom. 1958S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. ii. 41 He's being taped Sunday, so have one of the girls make a transcript of the tape. 1960Guardian 9 Nov. 11/1 One [teenager] with a tape recorder can tape a pile of ‘pop’ records. 1966E. McGirr Funeral was in Spain 40 Okay, men, let's hear his verbal run through. I understand you didn't tape. 1975R. H. Rimmer Premar Experiments (1976) i. 130 I've tried taping sober, high on alcohol, and stoned on grass. 1978R. Nixon Mem. 501, I was not comfortable with the idea of taping people without their knowledge.
Hence taped ppl. a., also with out, measured or sized up; fully ascertained (cf. senses 2 b, 5); ˈtaping vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1886Blackw. Mag. Sept. 337 Temporary taping-boys [employed on Ordnance Survey]. 1892Daily News 13 Oct. 7/2 Two large taped frames in the centre. 1929Papers Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 329/1 Taped out, an expression applied to a strip of land upon which the German gunners had accurately registered distances. 1933Wodehouse in Sat. Even. Post 30 Dec. 58/2 Didn't I tell you that I had everything taped out? 1953Pohl & Kornbluth Space Merchants (1955) v. 55 What..have you got to back that statement up with? Letters? Memos? Taped calls? 1955I. A. Richards Speculative Instruments x. 122 The study of language, even in the most elementary stages, has to be a dependant of that highest generic taping which may be called ethics. 1960Daily Mirror 23 Apr. 18/3 Bobby Darin..left behind a taped Saturday Spectacular... This will be shown on ITV tonight. 1968H. Waugh Con Game xii. 109 A few of the people connected with the show had got together after the taping. 1972R. Prawer Jhabvala New Dominion i. 58 He kept turning on the taped music and the concealed lighting.
▪ IV. tape
obs. form of tap. |