I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
bath taps British English
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The water coming out of the bath taps was freezing cold.
mixer tap
tap dancing
tap on/at the door (= hit it very gently )
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I tapped on the door and opened it.
tap resources (= take them from an area )
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Several nations are eager to tap the mineral resources in Antarctica.
tap water (= water that comes out of a tap )
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The tap water is not safe to drink.
tap water
tap your feet (= bang them gently on the ground )
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She was tapping her feet in time with the music.
turn the handle/knob/key/tap etc
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She gently turned the handle of the bedroom door.
turning on the tap
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‘I’m thirsty,’ she said, turning on the tap .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I was startled by a light tap at the door.
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She gave Mike a drink of water from the tap .
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The FBI had put a tap on Mitchell's phone line.
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There was a tap at the door.
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What are they doing next door? I can't stand this constant tapping on the wall.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A tap on the door sounded above the wind.
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A rubber hose-pipe snaked across the yard from the kitchen window, bringing hot water from the tap in the big sink.
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For the second time, there was a tentative tap on the door.
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I am stopped mid-anecdote by an imperious tap on my shoulder.
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The bath looked as if it had been hollowed out of a single lump of the stuff, with monstrous gold dolphins for taps.
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There was a tap on the window as Iris passed on her way to the front door of Hawthorn Cottage.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
gently
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Leave for about a minute, then gently tap off any excess glitter.
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He tapped gently on the door which was pulled open by Red Nose.
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She walked slowly towards the door, tapped gently , then stood back and waited.
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So I plucked up my courage and tapped gently on the door.
in
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He cleaned out a pocket and tapped in a nut.
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His chip shot came up an inch short and he tapped in for par.
lightly
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And she descended the stairs and, tapping lightly on the door, turned the handle and went in.
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Cops in twos and threes huddle, lightly tap their thighs with night sticks and smile at me with benevolence.
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She tapped lightly on the tall, wide, ornately panelled door, then pushed it open and walked in.
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Our driver rolled up his window and backed away, lightly tapping the front bumper of the car behind.
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He walked towards the door and tapped lightly on it.
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Glover lightly tapped his cane, looked off over the yellow lights dancing in the lake.
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I thought I'd remove it and, taking a hammer from the toolshed, lightly tapped the offending projection.
out
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He tapped out another cigarette from the packet and lit it with his gold-plated lighter while Blanche read.
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She would tap out a cigarette and pretend to smoke it, as if on break.
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Having discovered which it is, say it up-to-time at normal speed. Tap out the rhythm of other verses you know.
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The sad truth is that this source of power is already nearly tapped out .
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Mrs Lowyer turned to look at him and saw him lean forward to tap out the pipe in the ashtray.
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Meantime, the city is all but tapped out .
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His hand was hard around her waist; his boots tapped out an intricate rhythm like a drum.
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McAlister reached for his fork and tapped out a rhythm, a signal, a Morse code.
■ NOUN
energy
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The payoff is not in the end products so much as in the energy that can be tapped .
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Many readers will also be familiar with demonstrations of production of electric power by tapping the energy of winds and tides.
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In other words, a random jumble can not spontaneously assemble itself into some orderly structure without tapping some outside energy source.
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The answer is simple: it taps the rotational energy of Mars.
foot
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His foot tapped the floor in time to the music.
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His eyes were riveted to the overhead screen while the heel of his right foot tapped nervously on the floor.
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He waited, overtly patient, for her to begin, but underneath the table his foot was tapping noiselessly.
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His foot tapped on my carpet.
forehead
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Shaker gave a loose salute, and the grinning ensign tapped his forehead with a finger.
key
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Carver had tapped keys and up came the data on the Lennox girl.
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I watched as he placed a sheet of paper in the roller and began tapping the keys .
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We spend loads of time each day tapping keys .
market
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In some circumstances, such partnerships can, in fact, tap the tax-exempt market .
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Environmental systems: New consulting group set up to tap growing market for pollution clean-up services and advice.
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Generally, records sell better than books, and publishers want to tap into that larger market .
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It attracted more retail savings than even the government, which spares no effort to tap the market .
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High street banks have been tapping the student market for years, offering undergraduates free overdrafts.
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Otherswant to tap into the overseas market .
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While tapping the same market , the chains approach the business customer in different ways.
phone
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Morton, he realized, spoke with the confidence of the man who tapped the phones .
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One eye's cut from the flowered turf: a horse skull, whispering secrets with wind-sighs like tapping on phone wires.
potential
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The single most important step towards tapping you potential is establishing specific, realistic, and worthwhile goals.
source
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If Nissan, Toyota and the others fail to tap this source they will still be formidable firms all around the world.
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Dole is now expected to tap a new source of campaign financing: the Republican National Committee.
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How could booksellers tap this source of data?
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In other words, a random jumble can not spontaneously assemble itself into some orderly structure without tapping some outside energy source .
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Any bacterium that could tap a different source of food would obviously be very successful and eventually some did.
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Skilful questioning of the child can make him tap sources of knowledge he didn't know he had.
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If developing countries tap existing sources for money to improve communications, then there may be less cash for other projects.
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The dervish gyrating on his axis echoes the rotation of the earth and taps the sources of creative vibration.
telephone
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It is not hard to see why official inquiries concerning matters like spies or telephone tapping very rarely tell the truth.
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Then there is piecemeal reform with an ad hoc tribunal created-the classic instance of this concerns telephone tapping .
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Every embassy is being watched, our telephones are being tapped , everyone is on the lookout for you.
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But it was also claimed that in the late 1970s certain telephones were tapped irrespective of any industrial dispute.
vein
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But whatever his motives, he soon realized that he had tapped a very useful vein of information in Ted Morgan.
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Perry taps the needle one last time, taps her arm for veins and injects the syringe into a bruise.
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The language also taps a Laurentian vein where mud, blood, heat and simmering violence are mashed together.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Daley read the notes, tapping a pencil on the desk.
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Investigators had tapped the drug dealer's phone line.
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Is that someone tapping on the door?
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It sounded as though something outside was tapping against the window.
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Later we realized our phones had been tapped and the police knew everything.
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Reinhardt was tapped for the federal bench in 1980 by former President Carter.
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She tapped on the window to attract his attention.
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The rain forest theme products tap into consumer interest in the environment.
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The whole crowd was clapping and tapping their feet to the music.
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To continue the research project, the university plans to tap funds primarily from private foundations.
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Williams is expected to be tapped as the new director of operations.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Edouard was tapping the table idly with one finger, which Isobel knew was a sign of irritation.
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He tapped the cigarette briskly against the packet, placed it negligently between his lips and lit it.
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His chip shot came up an inch short and he tapped in for par.
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In other cases it was apparent that a new pedestrian population was being tapped as turnover rose markedly on shop opening.
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In some circumstances, such partnerships can, in fact, tap the tax-exempt market.
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Nor did I telephone Edusha the police might be tapping the line.
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She would tap out a cigarette and pretend to smoke it, as if on break.