[f. TAPER sb.1: cf. also TAPER sb.2 1, of same date.]
1. intr. To rise or shoot up like a flame, spire, or pyramid (obs.); fig. to rise or mount up continuously in honor, dignity, rank, etc. Obs.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi. (Arb.), 109. Like as this faire figure Of tall comely stature By his kindly nature Endeuors soft and faire To Taper in the ayre.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. I. ii. Sir George Villiers … tapers up apace, and grows strong at Court.
1697. Wars Eng. & Fr., in Harl. Misc. (1810), X. 298. The Black Prince, having now won his spurs, and being tapered up to his full growth.
1887. Pall Mall G., 7 March, 2/1. Might it interest him … to watch the workings of Synods all over Prussia, tapering up (if I may use the term) by a process of elimination into a General Synod and its standing committee?
† b. (?) nonce-use. ? To talk loftily. Obs.
1683. E. Hooker, Pref. Pordage’s Mystic Div., 103. How magnificously soever wee bragg and vapor and taper of our Reason, or Faith, Intellect, intelligibl Ideas and æternal Verities.
2. intr. To narrow or diminish gradually in breadth or thickness towards one end; to grow smaller by degrees in one direction. Const. away, off, etc.
1610. [see TAPERING vbl. sb.].
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 27. The Castle,… situated on a little hill of an oval figure, that tapers from the bottom to the top.
1797. S. James, Narr. Voy., 164. A beautiful river, which tapers away into a pleasant rivulet.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 127. Peaks of great height and magnitude, which do not taper to a point.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 420. The bundles taper off gradually and terminate below the apex of the leaf.
1886. Law Rep., 32 Chanc. Div. 72. A strip [of land] tapering from a width of twelve inches to a point.
b. fig. To taper off (away): To become gradually less in intensity, etc.; also colloq. to leave off a process or habit by degrees, esp. to diminish gradually the quantity or potency of one’s drink.
1848. Webster, Lett., 18 Sept., in Corr. (1857), II. 285. My catarrh has been … severe. I hope it will soon begin to taper off.
1860. Russell, Diary India, II. xii. 218. We saw him tapering away till he appeared a mere speck, as he went down the mountain-side, and finally disappeared altogether.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. iii. 109. He makes … an unavailing effort to ‘taper off’ [from the use of ardent spirits].
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 947. If [the murmur] begin with the diastole of the heart and taper off during the pause, it is an easy sign to interpret.
1903. Smart Set, IX. 12/2. I had been drinking hard for six months, and there was no such thing as clipping it short all at once. I had an idea of tapering off.
3. trans. To reduce gradually and regularly in breadth or thickness in one direction; to make tapering.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, 106. They smooth’d and taper’d it, as I would have it.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 315. This Bar … is tapered away.
1802. Beddoes, Hygëia, VII. 42. As if the narrow chest had been lengthened or tapered out into neck.
1860. All Year Round, No. 57. 159. I taper the point of my pencil.
1875. R. F. Martin, trans. Havrez’ Winding Mach., 26. A specimen of this sort of rope … was tapered in a length of 25 metres from .30 metre at one end down to .18 at the other.
b. fig. To reduce gradually in quantity; to diminish by degrees: esp. with off.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 419. The best method … would be to ‘taper off’ the daily amount of drink.
