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tape

1. A narrow fillet or band of cotton or linen; a narrow woven fabric used for strings and the like; as, curtains tied with tape.

2. A tapeline; also, a metallic ribbon so marked as to serve as a tapeline; as, a steel tape. Red tape. See Red.

(Science: botany) Tape grass, a plant (Vallisneria spiralis) with long ribbonlike leaves, growing in fresh or brackish water; called also fresh water eelgrass, and, in Maryland, wild celery. Tape needle. See bodkin.

Origin: AS. Taeppe a fillet. Cf. Tapestry, Tippet.