subs. phr. (common).—1. Official routine; formality. Hence, as adj. = formal: also RED-TAPERY or RED-TAPEISM = official routine; RED-TAPIST = (1) a government clerk; and (2) a precisian. Cf. BLUE-TAPE.
1775. LORD MINTO, Letter, 31 Aug. [Notes and Queries, 6 S, viii. 349]. Howe gets the command. The ships are in great forwardness. I can’t say so much for the army. Your old friend sticks to rules, TAPE and pack thread.
1838. BULWER-LYTTON, Alice, III. i. The men of more dazzling genius began to sneer at the RED-TAPE minister as a mere official manager of details. Ibid. (1853), My Novel, X. xx. Throw over that stiff RED-TAPIST.
1849. C. KINGSLEY, Alton Locke, iv. Fops of RED-TAPE statesmen.
1855. DICKENS, Prince Bull, in Reprinted Pieces. He had a tyrannical old godmother, whose name was TAPE (et passim).
1863. M. E. BRADDON, Aurora Floyd, xiii. A brief respite from parliamentary minutes and RED-TAPE.
1871. Daily News, 29 Dec. It is more RED TAPE.
1884. SPENCER, The Man versus the State, 59. The press and criticisms in Parliament, leave no one in ignorance of the vices of RED-TAPE routine.
1873. W. MATHEWS, Getting on in the World, vii. In no country is the RED-TAPIST so out of place as here. Every calling is filled with bold, keen, subtle-witted men.
1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Feb., 7, 1. An amusing instance of RED-TAPEISM is reported from America.
2. See RED.
