Forms: 3 tep, 5 tappe, 9 tapp, 5– tap. [ME. tapp-en, of echoic origin, either immediately in Eng. (cf. RAP v.), or through F. taper in same sense (12th c. in Godef.).]
1. trans. To strike lightly, but clearly and audibly; rarely applied by meiosis to a sharp knock or rap. To tap up, to rouse, cause to get up by tapping at the door.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 296. Ne ȝif him neuer inȝong, auh tep him oðe schulle, uor he is eruh.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 487/1. Taspyn, palpo.… Taspynge (K., P. tappynge), palpacio, palpitacio.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 971. Tapt the said Resuan once or twice about the pate.
1761. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IV. Introd. This faithful slave … has carried me…, continued he, tapping the mule’s back, above six hundred leagues.
1777. Cook, Voy. Pacific, II. xi. (1784), I. 409. The person who is to pay obeisance, squats down before the Chief, and bows the head to the sole of his foot;… having tapped, or touched it with the under and upper side of the fingers of both hands, he rises up, and retires.
18[?]. Moore, Song, The Woodpecker. Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound, But the wood pecker tapping the hollow beech tree.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 517, s.v. Founding, Before lifting off the frame, we must tap the pattern slightly, otherwise the sand enclosing it would stick to it.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxiv. I went to bed, was tapped up … by Bessy.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxvi. He sate there tapping his boot with his cane.
1888. Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men., i. 71. He tapped my fingers in the way which was customary with him.
1904. W. E. Norris, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 168. A parchment-visaged priest … taps his insistent gong.
b. To strike (the foot, hand, etc.) lightly upon something.
a. 1500. Ragman Roll, 131, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 75. And your foot ye tappyn, and ye daunce.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Rip Van Winkle. The bystanders began now to … tap their fingers against their foreheads.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., Prol. 149. Upon the sward She tapt her tiny silken-sandal’d foot.
2. intr. and absol. To strike a light but distinct blow; to make a sound by so striking, e.g., on a drum; esp. to knock lightly on or at a door, etc., in order to attract attention.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 2111, in Macro Plays, 140. Putte Mankynde fro þi castel clere, or I schal tappyn at þi tyre.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, x. She tapped gently at the door.
1831. Poe, Raven, iv. So faintly you came tapping.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xix. He tapped with his stick on one of the panes.
1888. F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. ii. Tapping with his wooden leg on the floor.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, xliv. They heard her footsteps tap along the hard road as she stepped out to her full pace.
† b. spec. of a hare or rabbit: To make a drumming noise with the feet in rutting-time. Obs.
1575. Turberv., Venerie, 238. A hare and a conie beateth or tappeth.
1650. [see TAPPING ppl. a. below].
1706. Phillips (ed. 6), s.v., Among Hunters, a Hare is said to Tap or Beat, i.e. to make a Noise.
1711. Puckle, Club (1817), 90. And told us … a goat rats, a boar freams, a hare tapps.
c. To walk with sharp light steps.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XI. ii. Old England for ever!… brave lad! I am going to tap away directly.
3. trans. dial. and U.S. To add a thickness of leather to the sole or heel of (a shoe) in repairing; cf. TAP sb.2 3.
1818. J. Kitto, in Eadie, Life, ii. (1861), 44. Set to tapping leather shoes to-day.
1846. Worcester, Dict., Tap, to add a new sole or heel to a shoe.
1847–78. Halliw., Tap, to sole shoes.
1880. W. Cornw. Gloss., s.v., The tap of your shoe is wearing; it wants tapping.
Hence Tapping ppl. a.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, III. ix. 338. Here … the beating Hares [are said] to forme, the tapping Conies to sit.
1816. Sporting Mag., XLVII. 177. The Oilman is a tapping and inoffensive hitter.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 240. Far and faint … whips resound … like a tapping-bird or the snapping of dried sticks.
