*tape*

A piece of linen about 1 ft. 8 in. wide by 213 ft. long, covered with embroidery representing the incidents of William the Conqueror's expedition to England, preserved in the town museum of Bayeux in Normandy. It is probably of the 11th century, and is attributed by tradition to Matilda, the Conqueror's wife. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Of or pertaining to a catapult. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. cata + petalous. ] (Bot.) Having the petals held together by stamens, which grow to their bases, as in the mallow. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. Cf. Staple a mart. ] 1. A public storehouse. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Supplies issued to troops on the march; hence (Mil.), the place where troops on the march halt over night; also, by extension, the distance marched during a day. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. In Russia, a prison or stockade for the confinement of prisoners in transit. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. (Anat.) Pertaining to a part of the columella of the ear, which, in many animals, projects beyond the connection with the stapes. -- n. The extrastapedial part of columella. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. 1st Hag, and Hig-taper. ] (Bot.) The great woolly mullein (Verbascum Thapsus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Hag-taper. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Verbascum (Verbascum Thapsus); the common mullein. [ Also high-taper and hag-taper. ]

a. [ Infra + stapedial. ] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to a part of the columella of the ear, which in many animals projects below the connection with the stapes. -- n. The infrastapedial part of the columella. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Pertaining to a part of the columella of the ear, between the stapes and the mediostapedial. -- n. The interstapedial part of the columella. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A long thin plastic ribbon coated with iron oxide or other ferromagnetic material, used to record audio or video signals digital data in the form of small magnetized regions on the tape; it is a common digital data storage medium for computer information.
Syn. -- mag tape, tape. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Same as magnetic tape.
Syn. -- magnetic tape, tape. [ PJC ]

a. [ L. medius middle + E. stapedial. ] (Anat.) Pertaining to that part of the columella of the ear which, in some animals, connects the stapes with the other parts of the columella. -- n. The mediostapedial part of the columella. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. meta- + pectic. ] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, a supposed acid obtained from pectin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A substance obtained from, and resembling, pectin, and occurring in overripe fruits. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. meta- + peptone. ] (Physiol. Chem.) An intermediate product formed in the gastric digestion of albuminous matter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Octa- + peptide. ] (Chem.) A molecule composed of eight amino acid units bound to each other by peptide bonds, usually in a linear array. See octamer. [ PJC ]

a. [ Penta- + petal. ] (Bot.) Having five petals, or flower leaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or characterized by, official formality. See Red tape, under Red, a. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. stapes stirrup. ] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the stapes. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. So named after John Bodaeus a Stapel, a physician of Amsterdam. ] (Bot.) An extensive and curious genus of African plants of the natural order Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family). They are succulent plants without leaves, frequently covered with dark tubercles giving them a very grotesque appearance. The odor of the blossoms is like that of carrion. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ LL., a stirrup. ] (Anat.) The innermost of the ossicles of the ear; the stirrup, or stirrup bone; -- so called from its form. See Illust. of Ear. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, that part of the columella of the ear which projects above the connection with the stapes, as in many animals. -- n. The suprastapedial part of the columella. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. tæppe a fillet. Cf. Tapestry, Tippet. ] 1. A narrow fillet or band of cotton or linen; a narrow woven fabric used for strings and the like; as, curtains tied with tape. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tapeline; also, a metallic ribbon so marked as to serve as a tapeline; as, a steel tape. [ 1913 Webster ]

Red tape. See under Red. --
Tape grass (Bot.), a plant (Vallisneria spiralis) with long ribbonlike leaves, growing in fresh or brackish water; -- called also fresh-water eelgrass, and, in Maryland, wild celery. --
Tape needle. See Bodkin, n., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Taped p. pr. & vb. n. Taping. ] 1. To furnish with tape; to fasten, tie, bind, or the like, with tape; specif. (Elec.), to cover (a wire) with insulating tape.

2. to record on audio tape or video tape; -- either directly, at the scene of the action tape, or indirectly, as from a broadcast of the action. “I was busy when that episode was on TV, but I taped it and watched it later.” [ PJC ]

n. an electroinic device for recording and playing back sounds on magnetic tape; usually it needs to be connected to an amplifier system for playback. [ PJC ]

n. A painted tape, marked with linear dimensions, as inches, feet, etc., and often inclosed in a case, -- used for measuring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. tapur, tapor, taper; cf. Ir. tapar, W. tampr. ] 1. A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light. [ 1913 Webster ]

Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper of a spire. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Supposed to be from taper, n., in allusion to its form. ] Regularly narrowed toward the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidical; as, taper fingers. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Tapered p. pr. & vb. n. Tapering. ] To become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make or cause to taper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an electroinic device for recording and playing back sounds on magnetic tape; it often has an integrated microphone, amplifier, and speaker, and in such cases requires no additional equipment other than the magnetic tape for recording or playback. [ PJC ]

n. 1. a recording of sound or video on magnetic tape. [ PJC ]

2. the process of recording sound or video on magnetic tape. [ PJC ]

a. Lighted with a taper or tapers; as, a tapered choir. [ R. ] T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Becoming gradually smaller toward one end. -- Ta"per*ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. The quality or state of being taper; tapering form; taper. Shenstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tapestries [ F. tapissere, fr. tapisser to carpet, to hang, or cover with tapestry, fr. tapis a carpet, carpeting, LL. tapecius, fr. L. tapete carpet, tapestry, Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;. Cf. Tapis, Tippet. ] A fabric, usually of worsted, worked upon a warp of linen or other thread by hand, the designs being usually more or less pictorial and the stuff employed for wall hangings and the like. The term is also applied to different kinds of embroidery. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tapestry carpet, a kind of carpet, somewhat resembling Brussels, in which the warp is printed before weaving, so as to produce the figure in the cloth. --
Tapestry moth. (Zool.) Same as Carpet moth, under Carpet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tapestried p. pr. & vb. n. Tapestrying. ] To adorn with tapestry, or as with tapestry. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Trosachs wound, as now, between gigantic walls of rock tapestried with broom and wild roses. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A small black dermestoid beetle (Attagenus piceus) whose larva feeds on tapestry, carpets, silk, fur, flour, and various other goods. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. tapete. See Tapestry. ] Worked or figured stuff; tapestry. [ R. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tapetis [ Braz. ] (Zool.) A small South American hare (Lepus Braziliensis). [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., from L. tapete a carpet, a tapestry. ] (Anat.) An area in the pigmented layer of the choroid coat of the eye in many animals, which has an iridescent or metallic luster and helps to make the eye visible in the dark. Sometimes applied to the whole layer of pigmented epithelium of the choroid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of cestode worms belonging to Taenia and many allied genera. The body is long, flat, and composed of numerous segments or proglottids varying in shape, those toward the end of the body being much larger and longer than the anterior ones, and containing the fully developed sexual organs. The head is small, destitute of a mouth, but furnished with two or more suckers (which vary greatly in shape in different genera), and sometimes, also, with hooks for adhesion to the walls of the intestines of the animals in which they are parasitic. The larvae (see Cysticercus) live in the flesh of various creatures, and when swallowed by another animal of the right species develop into the mature tapeworm in its intestine. See Illustration in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Three species are common parasites of man: the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium), the larva of which is found in pork; the beef tapeworm (Taenia mediocanellata), the larva of which lives in the flesh of young cattle; and the broad tapeworm (Bothriocephalus latus) which is found chiefly in the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. See also Echinococcus, Cysticercus, Proglottis, and 2d Measles, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

A parade to honor a person or persons, held in New York City, during which people in the tall buildings of Manhattan throw large quantities of paper, confetti, paper ribbons, or the like onto the parading group. The name comes form the ticker tape originally thrown onto the parade when it passed stockbrokers' offices in lower Manhattan, before stock tickers became obsolete; in subsequent years other types of waste paper were used to serve the honorary function, as well as paper tape distributed specifically for the purpose of being thrown in such a parade. [ PJC ]