to tap out
1
5.3
- phrasal verb
- /tæp aʊt/
- Texting
:
teclear
- So realistically I don't know what they were thinking, but she says tap out when you want to stop.
- tap out a message
- tap out a text
Examples
-
Meekly, Pancho floated to the phone and tapped out her number.
Fiction book (2001) -
"Walton tapped out the security code on the electronic lock and pulled the metal door open.
Fiction book (2001) -
"But look, old buddy, can you excuse me for a minute?" He picked up a phone behind the bar and tapped out a number.
Fiction book (1990) -
... has tapped out.
-
She sat at a bench in the back and tapped out a message on the tiny digital system on her wrist that looked like a watch.
Fiction book (2000) -
Pancho reached the airlock at the end of the hab module and tapped out the standard code.
Fiction book (2001) -
P.t., I don't happen to have a sat com uplink on me, and I don't have the time or inclination to rewire the car so I can tap out morse code.
-
In the meeting, she tapped out a quick message on her phone to keep her team updated.
-
He quickly tapped out a reply to the group's chat as the discussion progressed.
-
With his thumbs, he tapped out the details of the event on his smartphone.
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'tap' clearly evokes the action of touching keys or a screen, so part of the meaning is accessible to learners who know that verb. However, the particle 'out' does not transparently signal 'compose or send a message' (it usually marks direction/location or completion), and the specialized sense 'tap out' = 'type a message' is a language-specific extension rather than fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Tap out comes from the image of someone quickly touching keys or a phone screen with their fingers to write a message. When you tap out a message, each touch makes letters, so the phrase means 'to type or write a message by tapping'.