I. tag 1 /tæɡ/ BrE AmE noun
1 . SMALL PIECE OF PAPER ETC [countable] a small piece of paper, plastic etc attached to something to show what it is, who owns it, what it costs etc
name/identity/price tag
All the staff wore name tags.
⇨ ↑ dog tag
2 . GAME [uncountable] a children’s game in which one player chases and tries to touch the others
3 . ELECTRONIC OBJECT ( also electronic tag ) [countable] British English a piece of equipment that you attach to an animal or person, especially someone who has just left prison, so that you always know where they are
4 . COMPUTER [countable] a computer ↑ code attached to a word or phrase in a computer document in order to arrange the ↑ data in a particular way
5 . NAME [countable] a word or phrase which is used to describe a person, group, or thing, but which is often unfair or not correct:
His speed earned him the tag of ‘the runner’.
6 . GRAMMAR [countable] technical a ↑ tag question
7 . NAME PAINTED ON WALL [countable] especially American English informal someone’s name that they paint illegally on a wall, vehicle etc
8 . CAR American English
a) tags [plural] informal the ↑ license plate s on a car
b) [countable] a small piece of sticky plastic with a date on it that you put on your car’s ↑ license plate to show that the car is legally allowed on the road in that year
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ a price tag
Don’t forgot to remove the price tag.
▪ a name/an identity tag
Every baby had a name tag on his or her wrist.
▪ a security tag (=to prevent something being stolen)
Expensive items such as leather jackets have security tags which have to be removed at the till.
▪ a gift tag (=a tag attached to a gift that says who it is from)
You can buy gift wrap with matching gift tags.
▪ a luggage tag
Was there a luggage tag on your suitcase?
II. tag 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle tagged , present participle tagging ) [transitive]
1 . to attach a tag to something:
Each bird was tagged and released into the wild.
2 . to give someone or something a name or title, or describe them in a particular way
be tagged (as) something
The country no longer wants to be tagged as a Third World nation.
3 . to attach a tag in a computer program or document:
All the words are tagged with their part of speech.
4 . informal to illegally paint your name on a wall, vehicle etc
5 . American English to touch someone you are chasing in a game, especially to touch someone with the ball in baseball
tag along phrasal verb
to go somewhere with someone, especially when they have not asked you to go with them SYN tag on British English
tag along with
Kate tagged along with mum and Vicky.
tag on phrasal verb
1 . tag something ↔ on to add something, especially something that was thought of later
2 . British English to tag along