Taper

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈteɪpÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈteɪpÉš/
• Rhymes: -eɪpÉ™(ɹ)
• Homophones: tapir

From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor ("taper, candle, wick of a lamp"), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus ("papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle"), or of origin related to Irish tapar ("taper"), Welsh tampr ("a taper, torch"). Compare Sanskrit (tápati, "(it) warms, gives out heat; to be hot; to heat"). More at tepid.

Full definition of taper

Noun

1. A slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light.
• ~1603, William Shakespeare, ''Othello, Act I, scene I, line 157:strike on the tinder, ho!/ Give me a taper.
• 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Love used to carry a bow, you know,But now he carries a taper;It is either a length of wax aglow,Or a twist of lighted paper.
2. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated objectthe taper of a spire.The legs of the table had a slight taper to them.
3. A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.

Derived terms

• taperwise

Verb

1. (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
• 1851, Herman Melville, ,Though true cylinders without — within, the villanous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom.
2. (intransitive) To diminish gradually.

Derived terms

• taper off

Synonyms

• narrow

tape + -er

Noun

1. (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
2. Someone who works with tape or tapes.

Anagrams

• apert, apter, pater, petra, Petra, prate, preta, repat, trape