Definition of tap

• v. t. - To strike with a slight or gentle blow; to touch gently; to rap lightly; to pat; as, to tap one with the hand or a cane.
• v. t. - To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes.
• n. - A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.
• n. - A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.
• n. - 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.
• v. i. - To strike a gentle blow.
• n. - A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn.
• n. - A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like; a faucet.
• n. - Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; as, a liquor of the same tap.
• n. - A place where liquor is drawn for drinking; a taproom; a bar.
• n. - A tool for forming an internal screw, as in a nut, consisting of a hardened steel male screw grooved longitudinally so as to have cutting edges.
• v. t. - To pierce so as to let out, or draw off, a fluid; as, to tap a cask, a tree, a tumor, etc.
• v. t. - Hence, to draw from (anything) in any analogous way; as, to tap telegraph wires for the purpose of intercepting information; to tap the treasury.
• v. t. - To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing.
• v. t. - To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut.