Word.ws English Dictionary

redtape

redtape is the archaic form of red tape.

Meaning of red tape

Noun

red tape (uncountable)

  1. The binding tape once used for holding important documents together.
    • The use of red tape for tying up papers is of considerable antiquity. An advertisement in the Public Intelligencer, December 6, 1658, offers the reward for a restoration of a 'A little bundle of papers tied with a red tape, were lost on Friday last was a sevennight, between Worcester House and...1884, Eliezer Edwards, Words, Facts and Phrases ...curious, Quaint and Out-of-the Way Matters, page 469
  2. (idiomatic, metonymically) Time-consuming regulations or bureaucratic procedures.
    • All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress.

Questions about redtape

What is redtape the archaic form of?
Redtape is the archaic form of red tape.

Words near redtape in the dictionary

  1. redtail shark
  2. redtail sharkminnow
  3. redtail sharkminnows
  4. redtail sharks
  5. redtails
  6. redtape
  7. redtapism
  8. redthroat
  9. redthroats
  10. redtop
  11. redtop grass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: redtape (page history and authors); red tape (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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