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say it: tap
tap is a verb and noun meaning "cut a female screw thread with a tap". It is pronounced /ˈtæp/ — tap. It carries 20 recorded senses.
draw from; make good use of
“we must exploit the resources we are given wisely”
furnish with a tap or spout, so as to be able to draw liquid from it
“tap a cask of wine”
walk with a tapping sound
pierce in order to draw a liquid from
“tap a maple tree for its syrup”
“tap a keg of beer”
the sound made by a gentle blow
a faucet for drawing water from a pipe or cask
a small metal plate that attaches to the toe or heel of a shoe (as in tap dancing)
dancing
a tool for cutting female (internal) screw threads
the act of tapping a telephone or telegraph line to get information
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for tap come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.