Obs. rare. Also 5 tapster. [Corruption of tapeser TAPISSER, prob. by association with trade names in -ster; cf. TAPESTRY.] = TAPISSER. Also attrib., as tapester-work.
1472–3. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 37/2. xii Quyssions of Tapster-work.
1594. R. Ashley, trans. Loys le Roy, 29 b. Smithes, glasiers, tapisters, painters.
1609. Bible (Douay), Exod. xxxv. 35. To make the workes of a carpenter, a tapester, an embroderer of hyacinth and purple.
[1859. Parker, Turner’s Dom. Archit., III. iii. 62. The most lucrative trade of the fifteenth century was that of a ‘tapister.’]
