taps

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taps

(tăps)

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

A bugle call or drum signal sounded at night, as at a military camp, as an order to put out lights and also sounded at military funerals and memorial services.

[Perhaps alteration of taptoo, tattoo, variant of tattoo.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

taps

(tæps)

n (functioning as singular)

1. (Military) chiefly

a. (in army camps, etc) a signal given on a bugle, drum, etc, indicating that lights are to be put out

b. any similar signal, as at a military funeral

2. (Other Non-sporting Hobbies) (in the Guide movement) a closing song sung at an evening camp fire or at the end of a meeting

[C19: from tap¹]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

taps

(tæps)

n.

(used with a sing. or pl. v.) a bugle signal sounded in a camp or military post at night as an order to extinguish all lights.

[1815–25, Amer.; probably tap(too), variant of tattoo¹ + -s³]

taps

, last post - Taps, the bugle call for lights out, was originally a drum roll and got its name from the tapping of the drums; taps are also called last post.

See also related terms for lights.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

taps - (military) signal to turn the lights out

lights-out

bugle call - a signal broadcast by the sound of a bugle

armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"

Translations

амба

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References in classic literature ?

Durdles taps, that wall represented by that hammer, and says, after good sounding: "Something betwixt us!" Sure enough, some rubbish has been left in that same six-foot space by Durdles's men!'

I take my hammer, and I tap.' (Here he strikes the pavement, and the attentive Deputy skirmishes at a rather wider range, as supposing that his head may be in requisition.) 'I tap, tap, tap.

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Now an impressive pause - then the bugle sang "TAPS" - translatable, this time, into "Good-bye, and God keep us all!" for taps is the soldier's nightly release from duty, and farewell: plaintive, sweet, pathetic, for the morning is never sure, for him; always it is possible that he is hearing it for the last time.

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Flinging down my books I sprang to the wall and as steadily as my beating heart would permit gave three slow taps upon it.

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Joe followed him up, step by step, his advancing left foot making an audible tap, tap, tap, on the hard canvas.

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But the best that he could do was to attempt to attract attention from below, and so, after many failures, he managed to work himself into a position in which he could tap the toe of his boot against the floor.

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But just keep your head and tap him--whatever you do, keep tapping him."

But Billy went on, tap, tap, tap, calmly, gently, imperturbably.

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It was well: for there now came a light tap, and Hetty, with a leaping heart, rushed to blow out the candles and throw them into the drawer.

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No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one to turn the scorpion!

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Bucketful by bucketful, from the tap at the sink in the corner, he filled a large galvanized-iron tub.

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Rouletabille, with a friendly tap on my shoulder, confessed that he had nothing more to learn at the Glandier; he had learned there all it had to tell him.