• n. 細蠟燭，燭芯；逐漸變?nèi)酰诲F形物
• vi. 逐漸減少；逐漸變?nèi)?/li>
• vt. 逐漸減少；使成錐形

來自古英語 taper,燈芯，蠟燭，異化自拉丁語 papyrus,紙莎草，詞源同 paper.因過去用紙莎草 芯做燈芯而引申該詞義，后進一步引申詞義錐形物，逐漸變細等。

taper

taper: [OE] Taper is ultimately the same word as paper. Both go bach to Latin papyrus ‘papyrus’. This was used among other things for a ‘candlewick made from papyrus’, and hence for a ‘candle’. It seems to have been borrowed in this sense into Old English as *papur, and by a process known as dissimilation (in which one of a pair of similar speech sounds is changed, so as to break up the pair) it became tapur. The verb taper ‘become narrower’, which emerged in the 16th century, is an allusion to the shape of the candle.
=> paper, papyrus

taper (n.)

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."

taper (v.)

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.

1. Taper the shape of your eyebrows towards the outer corners.

把你的眉毛修剪成越往外眼角越細的月牙形。

來自柯林斯例句

2. I suggested that we start to taper off the counseling sessions.

我建議我們開始縮短咨詢服務(wù)的時間。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Immigration is expected to taper off.

估計移民會越來越少。

來自柯林斯例句

4. Unlike other trees, it doesn't taper very much. It stays fat all the way up.

和別的樹不同，它不是越往上越細，而是上下一樣粗。

來自柯林斯例句

5. If the charcoal does fail to light, use a special liquid spray and light it with a long taper.

要是木炭確實著不了的話，使用一種特殊的液體噴劑，再用長木片將其點燃。

來自柯林斯例句