tapper

See also: Tapper, täpper, and tæpper

English

Etymology

From tap + -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

tapper (plural tappers)

1. One who makes a tapping noise.
   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     A low tap was heard at the room door. Mr. Bob Sawyer looked expressively at his friend, and bade the tapper come in […]

2. A tap-dancer.
3. A wiretapper.
4. (baseball, slang) A weakly hit ground ball.
5. (telegraphy) In early wireless telegraphs, a device used to shake loose the filings of a coherer.
6. (UK, dialect) The lesser spotted woodpecker.
7. (US) A tapster.
8. (sports) An assistant in the sport of paraswimming who taps blind or visually impaired swimmers with a pole to indicate when they should turn around.

Derived terms

• hypertapper
• rubber tapper
• till-tapper
• toe tapper, toe-tapper wheeltapper, wheel-tapper

Anagrams

• Trappe

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German dapper, tapper. Further origin disputed. Possibly cognate with Old Norse dapr (“heavy”), German tapfer (“dauntless”) and English dapper.

Adjective

tapper (neuter tappert, plural and definite singular attributive tapre)

1. brave, courageous

   Synonyms: modig, dristig

Inflection

Inflection of tapper

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	tapper	taprere	taprest2
indefinite neuter singular	tappert	taprere	taprest2
plural	tapre	taprere	taprest2
definite attributive1	tapre	taprere	tapreste

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms

• tapperhed

References

• “tapper” in Den Danske Ordbog

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑpːer/, [ˈtɑpːer]

Noun

tapper (genitive tapri, partitive taprit)

1. battle axe (ancient military weapon)

   Synonyms: sõjakirves, võitluskirves

Declension

Declension of tapper (ÕS type 2/õpik, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		tapper	taprid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	tapri
genitive			taprite
partitive		taprit	tapreid
illative		taprisse	tapritesse tapreisse
inessive		tapris	taprites tapreis
elative		taprist	tapritest tapreist
allative		taprile	tapritele tapreile
adessive		tapril	tapritel tapreil
ablative		taprilt	tapritelt tapreilt
translative		tapriks	tapriteks tapreiks
terminative		taprini	tapriteni
essive		taprina	tapritena
abessive		taprita	tapriteta
comitative		tapriga	tapritega

Derived terms

noun

• täitapper

Further reading

• “tapper”, in [PSV] Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik [Dictionary of Estonian Basic Vocabulary] (in Estonian) (online version, not updated), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2014
• “tapper”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “tapper”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• tapper in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Middle English

Noun

tapper

1. alternative form of taper

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish dapper, from Middle Low German dapper, tapper. Further origin disputed. Possibly cognate with Old Norse dapr (“heavy”), German tapfer (“dauntless”) and English dapper.

Adjective

tapper (comparative tapprare, superlative tapprast)

1. brave

   Synonyms: modig, djärv, orädd

Declension

Inflection of tapper

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	tapper	tapprare	tapprast
neuter singular	tappert	tapprare	tapprast
plural	tappra	tapprare	tapprast
masculine plural2	tappre	tapprare	tapprast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	tappre	tapprare	tappraste
all	tappra	tapprare	tappraste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Derived terms

• tapperhet

References

• “tapper”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “tapper”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “tapper”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• tapper in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• tappre