[f. TAP v.2 + -ING1.] The action of TAP v.2; the sound made by this action; † in Etching: see quot. 1688 (obs.). Also reduplicated, tap-tapping, repeated or continued tapping.
c. 1440. [see TAP v.2 1].
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 151/1. Tapping, is wip[ing] or sliding ones hand upon the Varnish to make it smooth and even on the Plate.
1786. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 6 Nov. I heard a tapping from a window upstairs.
1839. The Brigantine, iv. 76. Elicited from the brave fellow by the excruciating torture of his wound, that a step was heard, and then a tap-tapping upon the door.
1860. Russell, Diary in India, II. xvii. 321. I was informed that the tents were going to be struck immediately, and the tap-tapping of the kelassees confirmed the fact.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxxi. Here a tapping all round the table greeted the orator.
b. The soling or heeling of boots and shoes. dial. and U.S.
1857. Eadie, J. Kitto, ii. (1861), 44. Revelations about list and leather, tapping and closing.
c. attrib. and Comb., as tapping test; tapping-room, a room in which tapping or boot-soling, etc., is done.
1895. Westm. Gaz., 17 April, 2/3. So the tapping test for railway carriage axles is a fraud. Ibid. (1905), 21 Sept., 7/1. An adjoining factory used … as a tapping room.
