n. 1 cock, stopcock, pet-cock, sillcock, seacock, spigot, spout, valve, US faucet Replace the washer in the tap to stop the leak 2 bung, stopper, cork, spile, plug, stopple, peg Move the tap from the empty barrel to the new one 3 wire-tap, bug, listening device, electronic eavesdropper I think there's a tap on my phone 4 on tap. a on draught, out of the barrel or keg They have real ale on tap b ready, available, on or at hand, waiting, in reserve, on call He promised to be on tap if I needed him for anything
v. 5 drain, draw (off), siphon off or out, extract, withdraw We tapped the wine directly from the casks 6 open, drain, unplug, sap, bleed, milk, broach, mine, use, utilize, make use of, put to use, draw on or upon, turn to account Whenever she needed money, she tapped her savings 7 bug, eavesdrop on, wire-tap M I.5 still taps her phone.