tape

Etymology

From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”). Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

noun

1. Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape.
   Hand me some tape. I need to fix a tear in this paper.
2. Thin and flat paper, plastic or similar flexible material, usually produced in the form of a roll.
   We made some decorative flowers out of the tape we bought.
3. Finishing tape, stretched across a track to mark the end of a race.
   Jones broke the tape in 47.77 seconds, a new world record.
4. Magnetic or optical recording media in a roll; videotape or audio tape.
   Did you get that on tape?
5. (informal, by extension) Any video or audio recording, regardless of the method used to produce it.
   “It was one of the most severe beatings they’ve seen on tape,” an FDNY insider said, recalling the reaction by brass who viewed video of the bloody fisticuffs. 18 Aug 2018, Susan Edelman, New York Post
6. (informal) An unthinking, patterned response triggered by a particular stimulus.
   Old couples will sometimes play tapes at each other during a fight.
7. (trading, from ticker tape) The series of prices at which a financial instrument trades.
   Don’t fight the tape.
8. (ice hockey) The wrapping of the primary puck-handling surface of a hockey stick
   His pass was right on the tape.
9. (printing, historical) A strong flexible band rotating on pulleys for directing the sheets in a printing machine.
10. (possible, obsolete, UK, slang) Liquor, alcoholic drink, especially gin or brandy. (Especially in prison slang or among domestic servants and women.)
    white tape, Holland tape, blue tape (gin); red tape (brandy or wine)
    Madam Gin has been christened by as many names as a German princess : every petty chandler's shop will sell you Sky-blue, and every night-cellar furnish you with Holland tape, three yards a penny. Nor can I see the difference […] 1827 (originally 1755?), Connoisseur, page=223
    […] who is now puffing his pipe and sipping his grog, as unconcerned as a Dutch fiddler at a merry-making, has no business here selling his cheese and candles in the day-time, and his yards of tape in the evening: […] and now then for the tape-shop. […] 1817, The White Dwarf: A London Weekly Publication, page 222
    A tumbler of blue ruin fill, fill for me! / Red tape those as likes it may drain, / But whatever the lush, it a bumper must be. […] Oh! those jovial days are ne'er forgot! But the tape' lags—When I be's dead, you'll drink one put To poor old Bags! 1830, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, published 1854
11. Clipping of red tape (“time-consuming bureaucratic procedures”).
    [When dealing with the] Federal Government, "red tape" is unavoidable. Perseverance, good humor and thoroughness will almost invariably cut through the "tape” or lead to the proper official where courteous and attentive treatment will be received. 1923, Henry C. Clark, Departmental Practice, Admission of Attorneys, Etc, page 7
    He was going to cut through the tape and ship this Army stuff straight to France. 1953, United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings, page 53
    Mr. Cheney: […] to move in the direction of deciding that the only way to get anything done, to cut through the red tape, to be able to move aggressively, is to have it done, in effect, inside the boundary of the White House. […] Mr. North: […] there are certainly times when one has to cut through the tape. 1988, United States Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, Iran-Contra Investigation: … One Hundredth Congress, First Session, page 26
    As Treasurer and Governor of Texas, she had an ability to cut through the tape and conventions to get stuff done and make things better. She modernized systems, made government more transparent and accountable and[…] 2011-03-01, Simon Maier, Jeremy Kourdi, The 100: Insights and lessons from 100 of the greatest speakers and speeches ever delivered, Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd, page 295

verb

1. To bind with adhesive tape.
   Be sure to tape your parcel securely before posting it.
2. To record, originally onto magnetic tape.
   You shouldn’t have said that. The microphone was on and we were taping.
3. (informal, passive) To understand, figure out.
   I've finally got this thing taped.