Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Tab

Tab

,
Noun.
[Etymol. uncertain.]
1.
The flap or latchet of a shoe fastened with a string or a buckle.
2.
A tag. See
Tag
, 2.
3.
A loop for pulling or lifting something.
4.
A border of lace or other material, worn on the inner front edge of ladies’ bonnets.
5.
A loose pendent part of a lady's garment; esp., one of a series of pendent squares forming an edge or border.

Definition 2024


Tab

Tab

See also: tab, TAB, t.a.b., t-ab, and тав

English

Noun

Tab (plural Tabs)

  1. A certain key on a computer keyboard, which inserts a tab.

Etymology 2

Noun

Tab (plural Tabs)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of tab (student at Cambridge)

tab

tab

See also: TAB, Tab, t.a.b., t-ab, and тав

English

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. A small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, etc.
    • 1993, Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting, p 333:
      He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans.
  2. (by extension, graphical user interface) A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
  3. (informal) A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.
    • 2008, Stephen King, Graduation Weekend
      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.
  4. (British Army, military slang) A fast march or run with full kit.
Translations
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Apocopation (shortening) of tabulation.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (informal) A restaurant bill.
  2. (slang) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar.
    Put this round on my tab, will you, barman.
  3. Short for tabulator.
  4. (computing) A space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.

Verb

tab (third-person singular simple present tabs, present participle tabbing, simple past and past participle tabbed)

  1. Mark with a tab.
  2. (computing) To use the Tab key on a computer or typewriter to navigate the screen or page.
    • 2010, Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4 (page 210)
      You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.
  3. Short for tabulate.
Translations
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Likely to have been formed by clipping the Geordie pronunciation of the word tobacco or alternatively from the brand name Ogden's Tabs.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (Britain, regional, Geordie and Mackem) cigarette.
    Giv'is a tab man!
Translations

References

  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118

Etymology 4

Clipping of tablature

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

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

Etymology 5

Clipping of Cantab, from Latin Cantabrigia (Cambridge).

Alternative forms

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (British slang) A student of Cambridge University.
    • 1995 January 20, Paul Thomas, “Re: >Re: Those 'orrible Tabs”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet:
      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 February 7, "Laser Cartridge" [username], “Re: Cambridge News, again.”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet:
      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.
    • 1998 January 17, whitey [username], “Re: Tab bashing (was University Challenge - Its pish)”, in rec.arts.tv.uk.misc, Usenet:
      Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-)
    • 2002 March 27, The Guv'nor [username], “Re: My target this week was...”, in uk.rec.bodybuilding, Usenet:
      I hope the Tabs get beaten! :-) I support Oxford for no real reason but they have a bad habit of losing to Cambridge recently.
    • 2002 March 29, Caroline Smith, “Re: Lifejackets thread returns... [was Re: Boat Race]”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet:
      I have nothing against the girl (other than the fact she's a tab!), but it does strike me as a little daft!!
    • 2006 March 30, JY [username], “Veterans Boat Race (that's Oxford, England vs Cambridge, England)”, in rec.sport.rowing, Usenet:
      Anybody know who won? ¶ Or should that be, how much did the Tabs win by? ;-)

Etymology 6

Clipping of tabloid

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (colloquial) A tabloid newspaper.

Anagrams


Kurdish

Noun

tab ?

  1. patience

Lojban

Rafsi

tab

  1. rafsi of tabno.

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowing from English table (table → tab; compare French: table, Latin: tabula, Interlingua: tabula, Esperanto: tablo, Ido: tablo).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [tab]

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. table (item of furniture)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms