Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TAPE-LINE, n.

A painted tape, marked with inches, &c., and inclosed in a case, used by engineers in measuring.

TA'PER, a. [supposed to be from the form of a taper.]

Regularly narrowed toward the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidical; as, taper fingers. Dryden.

TA'PER, n. [Sax. taper, tapur. Qu. It. doppiere, a torch, W. tampyr.]

A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle, or a small light. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. Shak.

TA'PER, v.i.

To diminish or become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward a point.

TA'PER, v.t.

To make gradually smaller in diameter.

TA'PER-ING, ppr.

1. Making gradually smaller.
2. adj. Becoming regularly smaller in diameter toward one end; gradually diminishing toward a point.

TA'PER-ING-LY, adv.

In a tapering manner.

TA'PER-NESS, n.

The state of being taper.

TAP'ES-TRI-ED, pp.

Ornamented with tapestry.

TAP'ES-TRY, n. [Fr. tapis, a carpet; tapisserie, hangings, tapestry; L. tapes, tapestry; Fr. se tapir, to crouch, to lie flat; Sp. tapiz, tapestry, and a grass-plot; It. tappeto, a carpet; tappezzeria, tapestry; Arm. tapiçz, a carpet; tapiçziry, tapestry. Qu. from weaving or spreading.]

A kind of woven hangings of wool and silk, often enriched with gold and silver, representing figures of men, animals, landscapes, &c. Cyc.

TAP'ES-TRY, v.t.

To adorn with tapestry.

TA'PET, n. [supra.]

Worked or figured stuff. Spenser.

TAP'E-TI, n.

An animal of the hare kind; the Lepus Brasiliensis, a rodent mammal inhabiting South America.

TAPE-WORM, n. [tape and worm.]

A worm bred in the human intestines. The popular name of various worms infesting the alimentary canal of different animals. They are parenchymatous entozoa, of the tenioid family. The broad tape-worm is the Bothriacephalus latus; the common tape-worm is the Tænia Solium. Both of these infest the human species, and are destroyed by the oil of turpentine in cathartic doses.

TAP'-HOUSE, n. [tap and house.]

A house where liquors are retailed.

TA-PI-O'CA, n.

The popular name of the fecula obtained by scraping and washing the roots of the cassava or cassada plant, the Manihot Cannabina of the intertropical parts of America. It is made into a kind of bread. It was an important article of food among the Caribs when they were first discovered by Europeans. They called it yuca.

TA'PIR, n.

The name of two quadrupeds, which constitute a genus of pachydermatous mammals, the one inhabiting South America generally, and the other Sumatra. These animals are allied to the rhinoceros, but are much smaller; and likewise to the hog.

TA'PIS, n. [Fr.]

Tapestry. Upon the tapis, under consideration, or on the table.

TAP'PED, pp.

Broached; opened.

TAP'PING, ppr.

Broaching; opening for the discharge of a fluid.

TAP'-ROOT, n. [tap and root.]

The main root of a plant, which penetrates the earth directly downward to a considerable depth. Cyc. Mortimer.

TAP'STER, n.

One whose business is to draw ale or other liquor. Swift.

TAR, n. [Sax. tare, tyr, tyrwa; D. teer; G. theer; Sw. tiara; Dan. tiere; Gaelic, tearr. In. D. teeren signifies to smear with tar or pitch, and to pine, waste, consume, digest, prey, subsist, feast, and teer is tender, as well as tar. The D. teeren is the G. zehren, Dan. tærer, Sw. tära, to fret, gnaw, consume; Eng. tare, in commerce. Tar then is from flowing, or from wasting, perhaps in combustion.]

1. A thick impure resinous substance of a dark brown or black color, obtained from pine and fir trees, by burning the wood with a close smothering heat. Encyc. Cyc. Tar inspissated is called pitch, and is much used in ships and cordage. Cyc.
2. A sailor; so called from his tarred clothes.

TAR, v.t.

1. To smear with tar; as, to tar ropes.
2. [Sax. tiran, tyrian.] To tease; to provoke. [Not in use.] Shak.

TA-RABE, n.

A large parrot with a red head. Cyc.