I. tab 1 /tæb/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Sense 1: Date: 1900-2000 ; Origin: tabulator 'tab key' (19-21 centuries) , from tabulate ]
[ Sense 2-3: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: Partly from table ]
[ Sense 4-7, 9: Date: 1600-1700 ; Origin: Origin unknown. ]
[ Sense 8: Date: 1900-2000 ; Origin: tablet ]
1 . IN TYPING a ↑ tab key
2 . MONEY THAT YOU OWE an amount of money that you owe, or a record of an amount of money that you owe:
The tab for the campaign was nearly $500 million.
I’ll put it on your tab and you can pay tomorrow.
He ran up a $4000 tab in long-distance calls.
3 . pick up the tab to pay for something, especially when it is not your responsibility to pay:
Taxpayers will pick up the tab for the stadium.
4 . TO OPEN
a) especially American English a small piece of metal that you pull to open a can of drink SYN ring pull British English
b) a small piece of metal, plastic, or paper that you pull to open something
5 . SMALL PIECE OF PAPER/PLASTIC ETC a small piece of paper, cloth, plastic etc that sticks out from the edge of something, so that you can find it more easily:
an index tab labeled ‘Expenses’
6 . ( also license tab ) a small piece of sticky plastic with a date on it that you put on your car’s ↑ license plate in the US to show that the car is legally allowed on the road
7 . keep (close) tabs on somebody/something informal to watch someone or something carefully to check what they are doing:
The police have been keeping tabs on Rogers since he got out of prison.
8 . DRUG informal a form of the illegal drug ↑ LSD or ↑ ecstasy :
a tab of acid
9 . CIGARETTE British English informal a cigarette
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ bill a piece of paper that tells you how much you must pay:
Many families are struggling to pay their bills.
|
a credit card bill
|
We got a huge phone bill.
|
I asked the waiter to bring me the bill.
▪ check American English a bill that tells you how much you must pay in a restaurant:
Can I have the check, please?
▪ invoice a document that lists the goods that a company has sent, or the services they have provided, and tells you how much you must pay. It is often sent from one company to another company:
Payment is due ten days after receipt of the invoice.
▪ tab informal a bill that is added up at the end of a period of time, especially for food or drinks that you have had in a restaurant or hotel:
People staying in the hotel can order food or drinks to be put on their tab.
II. tab 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle tabbed , present participle tabbing )
[intransitive] to press the ↑ tab key on a computer or ↑ typewriter