💡 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

32 1.1

To take liquid from a container or tree

verb
/tæp/

: extraer

And foresters have only begun to tap the potential for high growth.
tap the water

Examples

They're climbing palm trees and tapping, you know, and then making liquor toddy.
In this regard, large international energy firms have begun to tap renewable energy, including biomass, for its business potential.

Academic text (1999)
In the old days, we actually had to tap a wire into your phone line.

Enemy of the State (1998)
I just try to tap the excess off of a cream.
Can I get you bottled or tap water for this evening?

Posies (2021)
Before long, technicians repaired the broken pump, and water soon returned to tap stands throughout the settlement.

Academic text (2015)
Come the spring thaw I'd tap those maple trees.

Father's Day (2011)
It's a spile, used to tap into the maple tree for syrup.

Fiction book (1996)
The technician came to tap the keg to serve fresh beer at the event.
Make sure to tap the barrel gently to release the cider without spilling.

Antonyms

to block

∞ 3.0

To stop movement, access, or progress

to seal

457 2.5

To close something tightly to stop air or water getting in

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

How Much

to gush

26 3.2

to pour

588 1.0

to tap

32 1.1

to trickle

70 3.4

to drip

171 1.0

Surface Forms

tap infinitive

tapped past

tapped past participle

tapping present participle

taps third person singular

Etymology

Tap meaning 'to draw liquid' comes from an old English word tæppa meaning 'plug' for a barrel. People put a small hole or plug into a barrel to let the drink out, so to tap became to draw liquid.