tab

tab

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Tabasaran.

• IPA^(key): /tæb/, [tʰæb̥]

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.

tab (plural tabs)

1. A small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
   • 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World‎:

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

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Station to Station”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 333:

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

   • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 18:

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

2. (slang) An ear.
3. (by extension, graphical user interface) A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
4. (graphical user interface) The page or form associated with such a navigational widget.

   How many tabs are open in your Web browser?

5. (British Army, military slang) A fast march or run with full kit.

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

1. (transitive) To affix with tabs; to label.

• keep tabs on
• tabbed
• tab explosion

Apocopation (shortening) of (variously) tabulate, tabulator, or tabulation.

tab (plural tabs)

1. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) A restaurant bill.
2. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate

   Put this round on my tab, please, barman.

3. (by extension) The cost or bill for anything.
   • 1984, Time (volume 123, issue 1)

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

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

   Synonym: tabulator

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

1. (computing) 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.
   • 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.

• pick up the tab
• tabbed

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

tab (plural tabs)

1. (Tyneside and Mackem) A cigarette.

   Giv' us a tab man!

• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN

Clipping of tablature

tab (plural tabs)

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

Clipping of Cantab, from Cantabrigian, from Latin Cantabrigia (“Cambridge”).

• Tab

tab (plural tabs)

1. (Oxbridge 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? ;-)

Clipping of tabloid.

tab (plural tabs)

1. (colloquial) A tabloid newspaper.
   • 1999, George H. Douglas, The Golden Age of the Newspaper, p. 229:

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

   • 2010, Robert Lusetich, Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season:

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

Clipping of tablet.

tab (plural tabs)

1. (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.

tab (plural tabs)

1. (informal, theater) A tableau curtain.

• tabless

• ABT, ATB, B.T.A., BAT, BTA, Bat-, TBA, abt, abt., bat

Derived from the verb tabe (“to lose”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈtˢæˀb̥]

tab n (singular definite tabet, plural indefinite tab)

1. loss
2. casualty

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): [ˈtˢæˀb̥], (colloquial) IPA^(key): [ˈtˢæwˀ]

tab

1. imperative of tabe

From French table.

tab

1. table

tab b (plural tawni ɦi)

1. bow

• Bakabima, Koulon Stéphane; Nicole, Jacques (2018) Nawdm-French Dictionary‎, SIL International

tab

1. Romanization of 𒋰 (tab)

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

• IPA^(key): [tab]

tab (nominative plural tabs)

1. table (item of furniture)

• taib