[Sw. and Norw. tapp-en the plug.] The plug by which the rectum of a bear is closed during hibernation.
[1830. L. L. Lloyd. Field Sports N. Europe, I. v. 89. His bowels and stomach become quite empty, and … the extremity of them is closed by an indurated substance, which in Swedish is called tappen.
1835. Penny Cycl., IV. 85/1, note. The plug (in Norway termed the Tappen), found in the rectum of fat hybernating bears.]
1865. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., I. 393. The ‘tappen’ is almost entirely composed of pine-leaves, and the various substances which the Bear scratches out of the ants’ nests.
