From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Tap \Tap\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tapped; p. pr. & vb. n. Tapping.] [F. taper to strike; of Teutonic origin; cf. dial. G. tapp, tapps, a blow, tappe a paw, fist, G. tappen to grope.] 1. To strike with a slight or gentle blow; to touch gently; to rap lightly; to pat; as, to tap one with the hand or a cane. [1913 Webster] 2. To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes. [1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Tap \Tap\, n. [Cf. F. tape. See Tap to strike.] 1. A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat. --Addison. [1913 Webster] 2. A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel. [1913 Webster] 3. pl. (Mil.) A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, -- usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo. --Wilhelm. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Tap \Tap\, v. i. To strike a gentle blow. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Tap \Tap\, n. [AS. t[ae]ppa, akin to D. tap, G. zapfen, OHG. zapfo, Dan. tap, Sw. tapp, Icel. tappi. Cf. Tampion, Tip.] 1. A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn. [1913 Webster] 2. A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like; a faucet. [1913 Webster] 3. Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; as, a liquor of the same tap. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] 4. A place where liquor is drawn for drinking; a taproom; a bar. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] 5. (Mech.) A tool for forming an internal screw, as in a nut, consisting of a hardened steel male screw grooved longitudinally so as to have cutting edges. [1913 Webster] On tap. (a) Ready to be drawn; as, ale on tap. (b) Broached, or furnished with a tap; as, a barrel on tap. Plug tap (Mech.), a screw-cutting tap with a slightly tapering end. Tap bolt, a bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut. See Illust. under Bolt. Tap cinder (Metal.), the slag of a puddling furnace. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Tap \Tap\, v. t. 1. To pierce so as to let out, or draw off, a fluid; as, to tap a cask, a tree, a tumor, a keg of beer, etc. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, to draw resources from (a reservoir) in any analogous way; as, to tap someone's knowledge of the Unix system; to tap the treasury. [1913 Webster] 3. To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing. --Shak. [1913 Webster] He has been tapping his liquors. --Addison. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mech.) To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut, a pipe, or tubing. [1913 Webster] 5. to connect a listening device to (a telephone or telegraph line) secretly, for the purpose of hearing private conversations; also, to obtain or record (information) by tapping; -- a technique used by law enforcement agencies investigating suspected criminals. In the United States it is illegal without a court order permitting it. [PJC] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Faucet \Fau"cet\, n. [F. fausset, perh. fr. L. fauces throat.] 1. A fixture for drawing a liquid, as water, molasses, oil, etc., from a pipe, cask, or other vessel, in such quantities as may be desired; -- called also tap, and cock. It consists of a tubular spout, stopped with a movable plug, spigot, valve, or slide. [1913 Webster] 2. The enlarged end of a section of pipe which receives the spigot end of the next section. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: tap n 1: the sound made by a gentle blow [syn: pat, rap, tap] 2: a gentle blow [syn: rap, strike, tap] 3: a faucet for drawing water from a pipe or cask [syn: {water faucet}, water tap, tap, hydrant] 4: a small metal plate that attaches to the toe or heel of a shoe (as in tap dancing) 5: a tool for cutting female (internal) screw threads 6: a plug for a bunghole in a cask [syn: tap, spigot] 7: the act of tapping a telephone or telegraph line to get information [syn: wiretap, tap] 8: a light touch or stroke [syn: tap, pat, dab] v 1: cut a female screw thread with a tap 2: draw from or dip into to get something; "tap one's memory"; "tap a source of money" 3: strike lightly; "He tapped me on the shoulder" [syn: tap, tip] 4: draw from; make good use of; "we must exploit the resources we are given wisely" [syn: exploit, tap] 5: tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information; "The FBI was tapping the phone line of the suspected spy"; "Is this hotel room bugged?" [syn: wiretap, tap, intercept, bug] 6: furnish with a tap or spout, so as to be able to draw liquid from it; "tap a cask of wine" 7: make light, repeated taps on a surface; "he was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently" [syn: tap, rap, knock, pink] 8: walk with a tapping sound 9: dance and make rhythmic clicking sounds by means of metal plates nailed to the sole of the dance shoes; "Glover tapdances better than anybody" [syn: tapdance, tap] 10: draw (liquor) from a tap; "tap beer in a bar" 11: pierce in order to draw a liquid from; "tap a maple tree for its syrup"; "tap a keg of beer" 12: make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently; "Henry IV solicited the Pope for a divorce"; "My neighbor keeps soliciting money for different charities" [syn: solicit, beg, tap] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]: hit tap 1. <architecture> cache hit. 2. <World-Wide Web> A request to a web server from a {web browser} or other client (e.g. a robot). The number of hits on a server may be important for determining advertising revenue. In the course of loading a single web page, a browser may hit a web server many times e.g. to retrieve the page itself and each image on the page. In contrast, caching by browsers and web proxies reduces the number of hits on the server because some requests are satisfied from the cache. 3. <jargon> To press and release a key on the keyboard. Some prefer the less aggressive "tap". (2000-02-20) From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]: Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol IXO TAP <communications, protocol> (TAP, or "IXO", "PET") A protocol for submitting requests to a pager service. IXO/TAP is an ASCII-based, half-duplex protocol that allows the submission of a numeric or alphanumeric message. {Examples, protocol description, clarifications (ftp://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/technical)}. See also RFC 1568. (1996-04-07)