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taper

[tey-per]

Example Sentences Origin

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verb (used without object)

to become smaller or thinner toward one end.

to grow gradually lean.

verb (used with object)

to make gradually smaller toward one end.

to reduce gradually.

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Taper is one of our favorite verbs.

So is fletcherise. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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noun

gradual diminution of width or thickness in an elongated object.

gradual decrease of force, capacity, etc.

anything having a tapering form, as a spire or obelisk.

a candle, especially a very slender one.

a long wick coated with wax, tallow, or the like, as for use in lighting candles or gas.

Verb phrase

10.

taper off,

to become gradually more slender toward one end.

to cease by degrees; decrease; diminish: The storm is beginning to taper off now. I haven't stopped smoking entirely, but I'm tapering off to three cigarettes a day.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English: wax candle, Old English, variant of tapur, dissimilated variant of *papur paper

Related forms

ta·per·er, noun

ta·per·ing·ly, adverb

un·ta·pered, adjective

un·ta·per·ing, adjective

Example Sentences

She has been unable go off it despite repeated efforts to taper down her dose.

From time to time he wonders when business will taper off, but for now, he sees no signs of that.

Then they begin to taper off, diminishing in frequency over the next several days.

EXPAND

She has been unable go off it despite repeated efforts to taper down her dose.

From time to time he wonders when business will taper off, but for now, he sees no signs of that.

Then they begin to taper off, diminishing in frequency over the next several days.

For generations, mainstream economists had expected growth in the industrialized countries to taper off.

Originally the suit's jacket was made without a waist seam to taper its fit.

So, the way to a soft landing is by building internal demand to pick up the slack when exports begin to taper off.

And the taper shed gold upon its sheen, and lo, at the side of the one there stood a babe.

After that, incapacity payments taper to zero over five years.

Corporate investment in computer hardware, software and services is expected to taper off in response to a weaker economy.

But he did know that applying a lighted taper to the mixture produced an unprecedented bang.

We can promote music more effectively by making any one musician's share of the tax revenues taper off as copies increase.

We have tried numerous times to taper off the medication and instead focus on counseling with various therapists.

Do not taper or round the corners or trim too short.

The narrow taper also makes it easy to align the tool in the work piece.

Other cells taper at their ends and have no complete.

Taper off nitrogen feeding in late summer: actively growing plants.

Slowly taper off into retirement income and that long good night.

Theres nothing wrong with food stamps but they need to taper lower over time.

For starters, rewards begin to taper off when you've been logged in for a while: the kids can raid for as long as they.

Automobile makers have continued to taper off production and in.

He removes the central taper from one of them, inserts the.

Not too full, they taper ever so slightly toward the hem, so the wearer does not look fat.

But the concern is that demand could taper off in the second half of this year if unemployment remains near double digits.

The evening was capped with the arrival of a foot-high white cake bearing one taper and a chocolate mortarboard.

Increases in home prices stalled, then started to taper off.

Economists predict that inflation will taper off by the second half of this year.

But installations have recently begun to taper off, stoking rivalries.

Delon's prolific shooting schedule began to taper off, and he selected projects with greater discretion.

Einarsson said researchers were monitoring the volcano for indications that the eruption was continuing or starting to taper off.

Besigye twice a week and seemed to taper off within an hour.

Meckstroth said, though the level of production will probably taper off in future quarters.

Taper the stakes to a point near the bottom to make them easier to drive.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a person who records or edits magnetic tape, videotape, etc.

Origin:
tape + -er¹

Link To taper

Collins

World English Dictionary

tape (teɪp)

—n
1.	a long thin strip, made of cotton, linen, etc, used for binding, fastening, etc
2.	any long narrow strip of cellulose, paper, metal, etc, having similar uses
3.	a string stretched across the track at the end of a race course
4.	slang chiefly (Brit) military another word for stripe
5.	magnetic tape ticker tape paper tape See tape recording

—vb
6.	(also intr) Also: tape-record to record (speech, music, etc)
7.	to furnish with tapes
8.	to bind, measure, secure, or wrap with tape
9.	informal (Brit) (usually passive) to take stock of (a person or situation); sum up: he's got the job taped

[Old English tæppe; related to Old Frisian tapia to pull, Middle Dutch tapen to tear]

'tapelike

—*adj*

'taper

—n

taper (ˈteɪpə)

—vb
1.	to become or cause to become narrower towards one end: the spire tapers to a point
2.	(often foll by off) to become or cause to become smaller or less significant

—n
3.	a thin candle
4.	a thin wooden or waxed strip for transferring a flame; spill
5.	a narrowing
6.	engineering (in conical parts) the amount of variation in the diameter per unit of length
7.	any feeble source of light

[Old English tapor, probably from Latin papӯruspapyrus (from its use as a wick)]

'taperer

—n

'tapering

—*adj*

'taperingly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

taper

O.E. tapur, taper "candle," not found outside Eng., possibly a dissimilated borrowing from L. papyrus (see papyrus), which was used in M.L. and some Romance languages for "wick of a candle" (e.g. It. papijo "wick"), since these often were made from the pith of papyrus. Cf.

EXPAND

also Ger. kerze "candle," from O.H.G. charza, from L. charta, from Gk. khartes "papyrus, roll made from papyrus, wick made from pith of papyrus." The verb meaning "to shoot up like a flame or spire" is attested from 1589; sense of "gradually decrease in size, force, etc." first recorded 1610.

COLLAPSE

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"The kind of Unitarian
Who having by elimination got
From many gods to Three, and Three to One,
Thinks why not taper off to none at all."

-Robert Frost

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