What is "taper"

Taper \Ta"per\, a. [Supposed to be from taper, n., in allusion to its form.] Regularly narrowed toward the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidical; as, taper fingers.

Taper \Ta"per\, n. [AS. tapur, tapor, taper; cf. Ir. tapar, W. tampr.]

1. A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light.

   Get me a taper in my study, Lucius.
   --Shak.

2. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper of a spire.

Taper \Ta"per\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tapered; p. pr. & vb. n. Tapering.] To become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end.

Taper \Ta"per\, v. t. To make or cause to taper.

Old English tapur, taper "candle, lamp-wick," not found outside English, possibly a dissimilated borrowing from Latin papyrus (see papyrus), which was used in Medieval Latin and some Romance languages for "wick of a candle" (such as Italian papijo "wick"), because these often were made from the pith of papyrus. Compare also German kerze "candle," from Old High German charza, from Latin charta, from Greek khartes "papyrus, roll made from papyrus, wick made from pith of papyrus."

1580s, "shoot up like a flame or spire," via an obsolete adjective taper, from taper (n.), on the notion of the converging form of the flame of a candle. Sense of "become slender, gradually grow less in size, force, etc." first recorded c.1600. Transitive sense from 1670s. Related: Tapered; tapering.

Etymology 1 n. 1 A slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light. 2 A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object 3 A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To make thinner or narrower at one end. 2 (context intransitive English) To diminish gradually. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context weaving English) One who operates a tape machine. 2 Someone who works with tape or tapes.

1. n. a convex shape that narrows toward a point

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

3. a loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame [syn: wick]

4. stick of wax with a wick in the middle [syn: candle, wax light]

1. v. diminish gradually; "Interested tapered off"

2. give a point to; "The candles are tapered" [syn: sharpen, point]

In cymbal making, taper refers to the gradual change in thickness from the bell to the rim of the cymbal. It is one of the key features that determines the tone of the cymbal.

This change is typically not uniform, and it is extremely difficult to generalise on the effects of taper, just to say that they are profound. Crash cymbals tend to have the most pronounced taper, with the faster crashes and the richer tones the most pronounced of all. The bell of a paperthin crash or a fast crash can be thicker than that of many ride cymbals. On the other hand, china cymbals tend to have little or no taper, as do the heavy to medium weights of splash cymbals.

Hi-hat and ride cymbals tend to have intermediate taper, with the washier ride cymbals having less than the pingier cymbals, but there are exceptions. A flat ride cymbal may have no taper at all and simply be a machined disk of uniform thickness, but a slight taper is more common.

Category:Cymbals

Taper may refer to:

• Part of an object in the shape of a cone (conical)
• Tapering (mathematics): in geometry, or in the casual description of a shape or object, a gradual thinning or narrowing towards one end (i.e., a conical profile)
• Fishing rod taper, a measure of the flexibility of a fishing rod
• Conically tapered joints, made of ground glass, are commonly used in the chemistry lab to mate two glassware components fitted with glass tubings
• Luer Taper, a standardized fitting system used for making leak-free connections between slightly conical syringe tips and needles
• Tapered thread, a conical screw thread made of a helicoidal ridge wrapped around a cone
• Tapered crack, in concrete: a non through-penetrating fissure with a wedge shape
• Machine taper, in machinery and engineering
• Mark Taper Forum, a theatre in the Los Angeles Music Center
• A ratio used in aeronautics (see Chord (aircraft))
• A thin candle
• Philadelphia Tapers (also New York Tapers and Washington Tapers), a defunct professional basketball team
• Taper (cymbal), the reduction in thickness of a cymbal from center to rim
• Taper pin, used in manufacturing
• Taper insertion pin, used in body piercing
• Tapering, a period of rest before competition
• A Taper (concert), A person who records audio concerts, usually via portable setup
• A tapered steerer tube on a bicycle
• "Taper," a type of men's haircut (see crew cut)
• In signal processing, a tapering function or window function

Taper as a surname:

• Louise Taper, American historian
• Mark Taper, American developer, financier and philanthropist

• Tapper (disambiguation)

A taper is a person who records musical events, often from standing microphones in the audience, for the benefit of the musical group's fanbase. Such taping was popularized in the late 1960s and early 1970s by fans of the Grateful Dead. Audio recording was allowed at shows and fans would share their tapes through trade. Taping and trading became a Grateful Dead sub-culture.

Tapers generally do not financially profit from recording such concerts and record using their own equipment with permission from the artist. Taper recordings are commonly considered legal because the recordings are permitted and distribution is free. Taper etiquette strictly excludes bootlegging for profit. "Stealth taper" is a common term for a person who may furtively bring equipment into shows to record without explicit permission.

Although taping is usually done with microphones, often bands will allow plugging into the soundboard for a direct patch. Taping setups are generally portable, operating on high quality condenser microphones, phantom power, a microphone preamplifier and a recording device all of which are battery powered.

A common means of trade is by transferring the tape recording to a lossless digital format such as FLAC and sharing through an internet file share protocol such as BitTorrent with the assistance of a networking service such as etree.