tapper

1 of 2

noun (1)

tap·​per ˈta-pər 

plural tappers

1

: one who taps something or produces a tapping sound

a toe tapper

a pencil tapper

A low tap was heard at the room door. Mr. Bob Sawyer looked expressively at his friend, and bade the tapper come in …

—Charles Dickens

2

baseball : a lightly struck ground ball

… fielded a ninth-inning tapper…

—Peter Gammons

… scored the winning run on Tony Batista's weak but effective tapper over the mound.

—Gordon Edes

3

a

: a person who tap dances : tap dancer

The dancing on drums is remarkable, but the show-stealer is something called Sand Dance, which turns out to be just that: lanky tapper Guillem Alonso … steps and shuffles on a thin layer of sand.

—Gordon Cox

b

: tap shoe

… put on his tappers with a sparkling shoehorn …

—Michael Small

tapper

2 of 2

noun (2)

plural tappers

1

: one who extracts a fluid by tapping something

keg tappers

tree tappers

The state of Vermont is packed with maple trees and maple tappers and is famed for its maple syrup.

—Jamie Harrison and Shelley Boris

… set aside large areas of Brazilian rainforest as "extractive reserves," where rubber tappers, nut gatherers, and other local peoples can harvest renewable forest products.

—Environmental Defense Fund

also : something that is tapped to extract fluid

… Japanese maples are excellent tappers.

—Steven R. Lorton

2

: one who connects to something (such as a telephone line or radio signal) to obtain information surreptitiously

The Internet … has provided new frontiers for law enforcement tappers.

—John Schwartz

… hired a tapper to intercept telegraph messages in the Civil War.

—John Schwartz

Examples of tapper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Silva, the daughter of an Amazonian rubber tapper, is a bespectacled woman with an ethereal presence who has spent decades leading efforts to safeguard Brazil’s wilderness. —Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024

For a ground-and-pound program that lived between the tackles and breathed defense under Brady Hoke and Rocky Long, the Lewis era promises to be a blood-pumping toe tapper. —Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Jan. 2024

A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite. —Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 14 Dec. 2023

After the first two Yankees reached in the fifth, Josh Donaldson’s two-out slow tapper went for an RBI single and stretched the lead to two. —Julian McWilliams, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Sep. 2022

After a tapper back to Payamps, Cavan Biggio lined a shot up the middle that Brice Turang did a nice job to smother and then throw on to Rowdy Tellez at first to get the out while Chapman scored. —Todd Rosiak, Journal Sentinel, 31 May 2023

His family scattered, and a group of rubber tappers eventually adopted him. —Jack Nicas, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2023

But nobody was happy after the fact; a fifth-inning tapper by Andy LaRoche had been ruled a hit, even though Sabathia picked up the ball and subsequently dropped it. —Jr Radcliffe, Journal Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2022

Rubber tappers sliced a groove into the bark, allowing the milky fluid to spiral down the tree into a container. —Michael Grabell, ProPublica, 3 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1810, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1