Word.ws English Dictionary

tappen

tappen noun: a plug that forms in the anus of a bear or other mammal during hibernation.

Noun

tappen (uncountable)

  1. A plug that forms in the anus of a bear or other mammal during hibernation.
    • The inference drawn by the northern chasseurs from this is, that the tappen, in conjunction with repose, is the cause of the bear retaining his condition, though without taking any kind of nourishment, for nearly one-half of the year.1831, Lews Lloyd, Field sports of the north Europe, volume 1, page 98
    • No food can pass through the system and a mechanical obstruction called a tappen or plug blocks the passage.1951, The New York State Conservationist, volumes 6-7, page 60

Proper noun capitalized: Tappen

Tappen (countable and uncountable, plural Tappens)

  1. A surname from German.
  2. A city in Kidder County, North Dakota, United States.

Forms of tappen

pluralTappens

Origin of tappen

North German surname, variant of Tappe.

Words that rhyme with tappen

Questions about tappen

What does tappen mean?
Tappen means a plug that forms in the anus of a bear or other mammal during hibernation.
What part of speech is tappen?
Tappen can be a noun or a proper noun.

Words near tappen in the dictionary

  1. tapped out
  2. tapped the admiral
  3. tapped up
  4. tappee
  5. tappees
  6. tappen
  7. Tappenden
  8. Tappendens
  9. Tappens
  10. tapper
  11. tappers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tappen (page history and authors); Tappen (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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Cite this entry: “tappen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tappen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.