paper tape
1
3.5
- noun
- /ˈpeɪpər teɪp/
- Archaic
:
cinta de papel
- Still have a DEC PC8-I paper tape reader/punch (8 channel) from the late '60s.
- brown paper tape
Examples
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The cashier carefully fed the paper tape into the adding machine to record the day's sales.
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And what happened with mainframes was you either arrived with a deck of cards or a paper tape and you ran what's called a batch job.
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Being old enough to remember paper tape and punch cards, I have several things packed away.
Blog text (9) -
I remember punch cards, paper tapes, and learned "put skip list."
Blog text (14) -
John, I remember paper tape and punch cards and teletypes too.
Blog text (9) -
There were a number of those old punched paper tape reading computers whizzing away.
Blog text (31) -
In the old days, many computers used paper tape instead of modern storage devices for data processing.
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The technician needed a fresh roll of paper tape to continue recording information in the telecommunication device.
Synonyms
277
1.0
A thin strip of cloth, paper, or plastic used to fasten things
1
8.7
A long narrow strip of paper that shows stock prices printed by a machine
Surface Forms
Morphology
paper + tape
The meaning 'a strip of tape made of paper' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'paper' (made of paper) with 'tape' (a strip or ribbon-like material). This is a straightforward noun–noun compound using a productive English pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Paper tape gets its name from a long, narrow strip of paper used like a tape to record numbers or data, often printed from a calculator or punched with holes for old computers. Because people used these strips to 'record' and 'store' information, the term now means a physical strip of paper used to keep or move data.