Library / English Dictionary

TAPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stick of wax with a wick in the middle

Synonyms:

candle; taper; wax light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("taper" is a kind of...):

lamp (an artificial source of visible illumination)

Meronyms (parts of "taper"):

candlewick (the wick of a candle)

taper; wick (a loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "taper"):

chandlery (candles and other commodities sold by a chandler)

dip (a candle that is made by repeated dipping in a pool of wax or tallow)

rush candle; rushlight (a tallow candle with a rush stem as the wick)

vigil candle; vigil light (a candle lighted by a worshiper in a church)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame

Synonyms:

taper; wick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("taper" is a kind of...):

cord (a line made of twisted fibers or threads)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "taper"):

candlewick (the wick of a candle)

Holonyms ("taper" is a part of...):

candle; taper; wax light (stick of wax with a wick in the middle)

kerosene lamp; kerosine lamp; oil lamp (a lamp that burns oil (as kerosine) for light)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property possessed by a shape that narrows toward a point (as a wedge or cone)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("taper" is a kind of...):

narrowing (an instance of becoming narrow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "taper"):

point; pointedness (the property of a shape that tapers to a sharp tip)

unpointedness (the property of having only a dull tip (if any))

Derivation:

taper (give a point to)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A convex shape that narrows toward a point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("taper" is a kind of...):

convex shape; convexity (a shape that curves or bulges outward)

Derivation:

taper (give a point to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Diminish gradually

Example:

Interested tapered off

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "taper" is one way to...):

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

tapering (the act of gradually lowering the size or amount)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give a point to

Example:

The candles are tapered

Synonyms:

point; sharpen; taper

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "taper" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "taper"):

acuminate (make sharp or acute; taper; make (something) come to a point)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

taper off (become smaller or less active)

taper off (end weakly)

Derivation:

taper (the property possessed by a shape that narrows toward a point (as a wedge or cone))

taper (a convex shape that narrows toward a point)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Alleyne, on the other hand, must trust for his defence to his quick eye and active foot—for his sword, though keen as a whetstone could make it, was of a light and graceful build with a narrow, sloping pommel and a tapering steel.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

NOTE(S): This is used for more complex dosages such as scaling and tapering doses, uncertain dosage ranges, differing morning and evening doses and other instructions that can't be expressed with a simple PQ.

(Performed Substance Administration Dose Description, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

"What put it into your head? Did anyone tell you about Beth's giving away her things?" asked Laurie soberly, as Amy laid a bit of red tape, with sealing wax, a taper, and a standish before him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

From this he took a paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute attention.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But there were no other clothes in my room than the odd heap of things I wore; and when I was left there, with a little taper which my aunt forewarned me would burn exactly five minutes, I heard them lock my door on the outside.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

While Laurie listlessly watched the procession of priests under their canopies, white-veiled nuns bearing lighted tapers, and some brotherhood in blue chanting as they walked, Amy watched him, and felt a new sort of shyness steal over her, for he was changed, and she could not find the merry-faced boy she left in the moody-looking man beside her.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)