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

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

Christian Yelich followed by scalding a double to right that scored Wiemer, then William Contreras plated Tapia with a tapper down the third-base line. —Journal Sentinel, 30 June 2023

With the Sox down, 5-2, with two outs and Verdugo on first after reaching on a fielder’s choice, Masataka Yoshida hit a slow tapper to the right side of the infield that was fielded by first baseman Josh Naylor. —Julian McWilliams, BostonGlobe.com, 8 June 2023

Long-simmering land conflicts between farmers, miners, rubber tappers, and environmental and Indigenous activists mean outsiders are often viewed with skepticism. —Erika Page, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 June 2023

The following day, while Rondon and Lyra took advantage of a cloudless sky to plot the expedition’s coordinates, Kermit visited local rubber tappers and came back with five pounds of rice. —Larry Rohter, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023

In came Williams, who stranded the go-ahead run at second himself by striking out Donovan and inducing a weak tapper to the mound from pinch hitter Alec Burleson. —Journal Sentinel, 16 May 2023

See More

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