tab
A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
Noun
- A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
- insert tab A into slot B
- "His name was written upon a tab within it - Maple White, Lake Avenue, Detroit, Michigan." - 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans. - 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Station to Station”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 333:
Antonyms: slot
Coordinate Terms: tang
- An ear.
- A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
- The page or form (for example, on a web browser or file manager) associated with such a navigational widget.
- How many tabs are open on your browser right now?
- That’s the relief I feel when clearing all the tabs in my internet browser. Clicking the crosses like a long line of kisses finally indulged. - 2020 December 11, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Is your browser window full of...
- A fast march or run with full kit.
Origin
First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.
Forms
Noun Canada, US
- A restaurant bill.
- to pick up the tab
- Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate.
- to start a tab
- Put this round on my tab, please, barman.
- As he fished a Visa credit card out of his green leather wallet, the bartender yelled out a question over the music: “Do you want to start a tab?” Mr. Korinke shook his head no and swiftly closed out. The pair might...
- The cost or bill for anything.
- Moreover, at a tab of $9 million, the system's price is about $1 million less than a conventional heating-cooling plant […] - 1984, Time, volume 123, number 1:
- A space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.
- No no no no I don't, it's not hate, hate is a strong word, truth be told I do have a slight preference for tabs but that's only because I'm anal and because I prefer precision. - 2016 May 29, Carson Mell, “Bachmanity...
Origin
Apocopation (shortening) of (variously) tabulate, tabulator, or tabulation.
Forms
Noun Geordie, Mackem
- A cigarette.
- Lend us a tab!
Origin
Likely to have been formed by clipping the Geordie pronunciation of the word tobacco or alternatively from the brand name Ogden's Tabs.
Forms
Noun Entry 4
- A form of musical notation indicating fingering rather than the pitch of notes, commonly used for stringed instruments.
Origin
Clipping of tablature.
Forms
Noun Entry 5
- A student of Cambridge University.
- You should have been there---it was a good race. Just to clarify matters for the hard of understanding, the tabs led for about 1500m before turning to shrapnel, and Oxford eventually won by 3/4 length. - 1995 January...
- Before Rachel gets in with a stab at the Tabs' coxing efforts, may I say that my experience of coxes on the Isis is somewhat similar. - 1995 February 7, "Laser Cartridge" [username], “Re: Cambridge News, again.”, in...
- Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-) - 1998 January 17, whitey [username], “Re: Tab bashing (was University Challenge - Its pish)”, in...
Origin
Clipping of Cantab, from Cantabrigian, from Latin Cantabrigia (“Cambridge”).
Forms
Noun media, publishing
- A tabloid newspaper.
- By 1926 the tabloid mania was at full tilt, and the tabs in New York went at each other with hammer and tong. - 1999, George H. Douglas, The Golden Age of the Newspaper, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 229:
- The tabloids were able to spend much of the week confronting their demons. Maxine Carr's request to be released from prison early prompted the tabs to let her know what they thought of her suggestion. - 2004 January 16,...
- That is the attitude of the tabs: they cover the world's most important city. - 2010, Robert Lusetich, Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
Origin
Clipping of tabloid.
Forms
Noun informal
- A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.
- Tonight the kids will go out and party down in a more righteous mode. Alcohol and not a few tabs of X will be ingested. Club music will throb through big speakers. - 2008, Stephen King, Graduation Weekend:
Origin
Clipping of tablet.
Forms
Noun entertainment, lifestyle
- A tableau curtain.
Forms
Related
Derived
Verb Entry 9
- To affix with tabs; to label.
Forms
Derived
backtab bread tab collar tab cross-tab cross tab hand-tab keep tabs on laundry tab multitab peel tab pull-tab square tab shingle subtab swipe-tab tabbable tabbed tabber tab complete tab control tab explosion tabification tabify tab index tab leader
Verb computing, engineering
- To use the Tab key on a computer to advance the cursor or move the input focus, or on a typewriter to advance the carriage.
- You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False. - 2010, Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4, page 210: