taps

From tap (noun) +‎ -s. Sense 1 (“signal for extinguishing all lights in soldiers’ quarters and retiring to bed”) is from the fact that the signal was originally made using a drum.^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tæps/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æps

taps pl (plural only)

2. (military) A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo; the signal is sometimes also given during the funeral of a soldier.

   Coordinate terms: reveille, tattoo

taps

1. plural of tap

taps

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of tap

• taps aff

• apts., ATSP, ATPs, TPAs, ptas., PTSA, Pats, past, ap'ts, PATs, stap, PTAs, Apts, PSAT, spat, pats, APTS, apts, APTs

taps

1. plural of tap

• Audio:

  (file)

taps (not comparable)

1. tapered

• past, spat, stap

Back-formation from tapsol. Created during the Hungarian language reform, which took place in the 18th–19th centuries.

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: taps
• Rhymes: -ɒpʃ

taps (plural tapsok)

1. applause, clapping

• vastaps

• taps in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

taps

1. third-person singular/plural future indicative of tapt

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key):

tàps

1. third-person singular future of tapti (become)
2. third-person plural future of tapti (become)