toe-tapper
Syllables: toe-tap·per/ˈtəʊˌtæpə/US/ˈtoʊˌtæpɚ/
toe-tapper noun: a piece of music with a prominent beat, to which one feels compelled to tap their toes.
Noun
toe-tapper (plural toe-tappers)
- A piece of music with a prominent beat, to which one feels compelled to tap their toes.
- "I'd Be Lost Without You" seems somewhat out of place from a vocal viewpoint — Lewis's slightly reedy middle soprano is very expressive and absolutely true, but doesn't have enough dark body to fully deal with the torchy melody. It fares better in the ballads and toe-tappers that comprise the rest...1989 August 12, Caroline Foty, “Hindsights”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 5, page 7
- [Emily] Blunt, for one, knows exactly what she's doing. She glides through her scenes even when she's not literally aloft, offsetting her sterner side with prim but genuine affection in her dialogue, then grinning her way through the energetic toe-tappers.2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 May 2019
- A joke which is found to be pleasingly humorous.
- A homosexual who is closeted regarding sexual orientation, especially one who solicits gay sex.
- The US Department of Justice has a handy guide for police to focus on when attempting to bust the next toe tapper or washroom wanker.2007 September 18, Jody May-Chang, “Justice Dept. has guidebook to public sex”, in Pridedepot.com
- Any bets he is an accomplished toe-tapper in the synagogue bathrooms?2007 December 12, David, “No fucking way”, in Joelderfner.com
Examples of toe-tapper in a sentence
- It fares better in the ballads and toe-tappers that comprise the rest of the album.1989 August 12, Caroline Foty, “Hindsights”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 5, page 7:
- I didn't have to worry about a republican toe-tapper being in the next stall.2008 February 14, g1r8c7c6#702696, “Hola, Hillary”, in Caller.com:
- This guy McDonnel, in fact, sounds like a bonafide bathroom stall toe-tapper.2009 September 7, xavierob82, “VA GOP GOV Candidate Caught by his Family Values”, in City-data.com:
- Look, if you got a toe-tapper in the stall next to yourself, just run.2010 April 18, aristotle, “Sneaking a lesbian onto the Supreme Court”, in Expeditersonline.com:
Forms of toe-tapper
| plural | toe-tappers |
|---|
Origin of toe-tapper
From toe + tapper. The second sense (“a joke”) derives from the practice of tapping one’s toes to indicate pleasure; compare toe-tappingly. The third sense (“a closeted homosexual, especially one who solicits gay sex”) derives from the Larry Craig scandal in 2007 in which then-Senator Larry Craig was arrested after tapping his right foot in a men’s restroom, an action seen as covert solicitation of sex.
Questions about toe-tapper
- What does toe-tapper mean?
- Toe-tapper means a piece of music with a prominent beat, to which one feels compelled to tap their toes.
- How do you use toe-tapper in a sentence?
- It fares better in the ballads and toe-tappers that comprise the rest of the album.
- What part of speech is toe-tapper?
- Toe-tapper is a noun.
- How do you pronounce toe-tapper?
- Toe-tapper is pronounced /ˈtəʊˌtæpə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of toe-tapper?
- The plural of toe-tapper is toe-tappers.
Words near toe-tapper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: toe-tapper (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-toe-tapper.wav.
Cite this entry: “toe-tapper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/toe-tapper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.