noun
(military) signal to turn the lights out
• Syn: ↑lights-out
• Topics: ↑military, ↑armed forces, ↑armed services, ↑military machine, ↑war machine
• Hypernyms: ↑bugle call
* * *
I.plural of tap
present third singular of tap
II. \\ˈtaps\ noun plural but usually singular in construction
1. : the last bugle call at night blown as a signal that all unauthorized lights are to be put out
taps was sounded
— compare tattoo
2. : a similar call blown as part of the final honors at military funerals and sometimes at memorial services
* * *
/taps/, n. (used with a sing. or pl. v.) Mil.
a signal by bugle or drum, sounded at night as an order to extinguish all lights, and sometimes performed as a postlude to a military funeral.
* * *
taps «taps», noun (plural).
a signal on a bugle or drum to put out lights at night. Taps are also sounded when a soldier or sailor is buried. »
The customary volleys were fired over the grave, and Bugler Fitzgerald sounded taps, the soldier's last sad farewell (Cambridge Tribune).
Usage Taps is plural in construction but may be singular or plural in use.
* * *
/ˈtæps/ noun [plural]
US military : a song played on a bugle at military funerals and at night as a signal for soldiers to go to bed
Useful english dictionary. 2012.