💡 To use resources 👆 To touch lightly 👆 A light touch 🚰 A faucet 🎧 To listen secretly 🎧 Secret listening 👞 To dance with taps 👞 Metal shoe plates 🌳 To draw liquid 💳 To pay by touch 🔩 Thread-cutting tool 🔩 To cut threads

to tap

1 8.6

To cut a thread inside a hole so a screw can fit

verb
/tæp/

Specialized

: roscar

Now I'm just using a hand drill, a tap and some cutting oil to tap these holes.
tap a hole

The female threads on the AMD brackets that are currently in use right now, they were tapped at an angle.

Examples

I opted to tap 4-40 threads in the rear of the spring hole and kept the detent and spring in place with a 1/8" long 4-40 set screw.

Blog text (13)
And I drilled a hole in it and tapped the hole and got some high high density Teflon tape.
I grab the small bolts and tap some threads on the handle.
They had all needed milling and tapping, too.

Academic text (1999)
The DataBolt is threaded into a tapped hole early in the manufacturing cycle.

Academic text (2002)
My screws are stripping as I try to kind of self tap them into these smaller holes, and they're getting stuck.
Holes were then drilled in the plywood and threads were tapped with the driller set to a low speed.
I drilled out some pieces of 1/4-inch thick wall aluminum tubing and tapped the ends for 5mm threads.

Blog text (13)
To make a strong joint, you should first drill a hole and then tap the threads inside.
He carefully used a tap to tap the threads for the screws in the metal piece.

Idioms

on tap

7 3.4

Drinks like beer or water served from a tap

on tap

5 3.7

Ready to use when needed

Phrasal Verbs

to double tap

Texting

3 3.5

Tap twice quickly on a touchscreen to start a function

to tap out

1 4.4

To touch something lightly with fingers or an object to make a rhythm

to tap the screen

1 2.8

Touch the screen lightly with your finger to choose or open something

to tap out

Texting

1 5.3

To type a short message by pressing keys or the screen quickly

to tap the keg

Informal

1 6.1

To start pouring beer from a keg by attaching something that lets beer flow

Compounds

tap water

27 1.0

Water that comes from a tap used for drinking or cooking

tap on

14 2.7

A light touch or knock to get someone's attention

spinal tap

Specialized

9 5.8

To remove fluid from the lower back with a needle for testing

tap dancing

5 3.0

A dance where shoes with metal plates make a rhythm when the feet hit the floor

tap dancer

5 3.5

A person who makes music by hitting the floor with metal plates on their shoes while moving their feet

tap dance

4 3.0

A dance where the feet make tapping sounds using shoes with metal plates

water tap

1 1.0

A thing that controls the flow of water from a pipe

bidet tap

8.3

A tap that sprays water for washing after using the toilet

champagne tap

7.9

A small tool that pours champagne from a bottle into glasses

tap dance performance

3.7

A dance where dancers make rhythmic sounds by hitting the floor with metal plates on their shoes

tap wrench

Specialized

7.3

A tool that holds and turns a tap to cut screw threads inside a hole

tap house

4.3

A bar that sells beer, often from its own brewery

tap-off

Jargon

7.4

The jump ball that starts a basketball game

Surface Forms

tap infinitive

tapped past

tapped past participle

tapping present participle

taps third person singular

Etymology

Tap in metalwork means to cut the inside thread of a hole and it comes from the tool called a tap, which makes the thread that a screw fits into.