tab — English Dictionary

tab
Pronunciations (2)
  • /tæb/
  • [tʰæb̥]

Noun

  1. A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.

    Antonyms
    Examples

    insert tab A into slot B

    "His name was written upon a tab within it - Maple White, Lake Avenue, Detroit, Michigan."

    More examples (2)

    He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans.

    We lifted the tabs on the cans and poured the brew carefully into glasses.

  2. An ear.

    Usage
    • Slang
  3. A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.

    Usage
    • broadly
  4. The page or form (for example, on a web browser or file manager) associated with such a navigational widget.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples

    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.

  5. A fast march or run with full kit.

    Usage
    • British-Army
    • Slang

Verb

  1. To affix with tabs; to label.

    Usage
    • Transitive

Noun

  1. A restaurant bill.

    Usage
    • Canada
    • US usage
    • Informal
    Examples

    to pick up the tab

  2. Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate.

    Usage
    • Canada
    • US usage
    • Informal
    Examples

    to start a tab

    Put this round on my tab, please, barman.

    More examples (1)

    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 order more drinks later on, but the prospect of opening a tab was verboten. […] His ethos reflects a growing phenomenon among Gen Z bargoers: an aversion to opening bar tabs.

  3. The cost or bill for anything.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples

    Moreover, at a tab of $9 million, the system's price is about $1 million less than a conventional heating-cooling plant […]

  4. A space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.

    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

Verb

  1. 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.

    Examples

    You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.

Noun

  1. A cigarette.

    Usage
    • Geordie
    • Mackem
    Examples

    Lend us a tab!

Noun

  1. A form of musical notation indicating fingering rather than the pitch of notes, commonly used for stringed instruments.

Noun

  1. A student of Cambridge University.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

    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.

    Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-)

    More examples (3)

    I hope the Tabs get beaten! :-) I support Oxford for no real reason but they have a bad habit of losing to Cambridge recently.

    I have nothing against the girl (other than the fact she's a tab!), but it does strike me as a little daft!!

    Anybody know who won? ¶ Or should that be, how much did the Tabs win by? ;-)

Noun

  1. A tabloid newspaper.

    Usage
    • Colloquial
    Examples

    By 1926 the tabloid mania was at full tilt, and the tabs in New York went at each other with hammer and tong.

    More examples (1)

    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.

    That is the attitude of the tabs: they cover the world's most important city.

    More examples (1)

    If ministers disappoint—they usually do—the tabloids can cry "betrayal". They never lose. But just because the tabs are often flagrantly dishonest (in more expensive papers you get a better class of dishonesty) doesn't mean they're always wrong.

Noun

  1. A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.

    Usage
    • Informal
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

Noun

  1. A tableau curtain.

    Usage
    • Informal
    Related words

Noun

  1. the bill in a restaurant

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    he asked the waiter for the check

  2. sensationalist journalism

  3. the key on a typewriter or a word processor that causes a tabulation

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  4. a short strip of material attached to or projecting from something in order to facilitate opening or identifying or handling it

    Broader terms
    Examples

    pull the tab to open the can

    files with a red tab will be stored separately

    More examples (2)

    the collar has a tab with a button hole

    the filing cards were organized by cards having indexed tabs

  5. a dose of medicine in the form of a small pellet

    Broader terms
Word forms
tabstabstabbingtabbedtabbedTab

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