to tap
- verb
- /tæp/
- Eddie, your phone is tapped.
Knowing that this this woman walked up, like, grabbed her phone, like, yeah, tapping someone else's phone.
- Knowing that this this woman walked up, like, grabbed her phone, like, yeah, tapping someone else's phone.
Examples
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None of the phones is tapped there at the box.
Academic text (2007) -
They learned that the police had a legal right to tap conversations if they had a warrant.
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- We'll tap your phone.
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Because they can tap a phone doesn't mean they do or will.
Fiction book (1995) -
They probably tapped her phone.
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My room's been searched, my phone's tapped.
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Just like you could not open somebody's mail, you couldn't tap their line unless you have a court order.
Academic text (1994) -
He knew his phone was tapped, he was followed everywhere, his trash picked through.
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The investigators were able to tap the suspect's phone for useful evidence.
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In order to gather more information, the agency decided to tap multiple phone lines.
Synonyms
To secretly listen to phone calls or messages to get information
To secretly listen to other people's private conversations without them knowing
To secretly listen to someone's phone calls
Antonyms
To separate something so it is no longer joined, for example remove a cable or turn off power
Idioms
Phrasal Verbs
- Informal
To start pouring beer from a keg by attaching something that lets beer flow
Compounds
A person who makes music by hitting the floor with metal plates on their shoes while moving their feet
A dance where dancers make rhythmic sounds by hitting the floor with metal plates on their shoes
How Invasive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tap meaning 'to listen secretly' comes from the idea of connecting into a line to take something out, like drawing from a pipe, so to tap a phone is to connect and listen in.