Nap vs. Tap — What's the Difference?

A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours.

A device by which a flow of liquid or gas from a pipe or container can be controlled

A brief sleep, often during the day.

A device connected to a telephone for listening secretly to someone's conversations

A soft or fuzzy surface on fabric or leather.

An instrument for cutting a threaded hole in a material.

A trick-taking card game in which the players are each dealt five cards and everyone bids the number of tricks they intend to take, with the highest bidder deciding the trump.

A taproom.

The first bid of five tricks in this game, the maximum number in a hand. Also called napoleon.

A quick light blow, or the sound of such a blow

See napoleon1.

Tap dancing

To sleep for a brief period, often during the day; doze.

A bugle call for lights to be put out in army quarters

To be unaware of imminent danger or trouble; be off guard

Draw liquid through the tap or spout of (a cask, barrel, or other container)

To form or raise a soft or fuzzy surface on (fabric or leather).

Exploit or draw a supply from (a resource)

To pour or put a sauce or gravy over (a cooked dish) in a thin, even layer

Connect a device to (a telephone) so that conversation can be listened to secretly

A short period of sleep, especially one during the day.

Cut a thread in (something) to accept a screw

A soft or fuzzy surface, generally on fabric or leather.

Strike with a quick light blow or blows

The common direction, on some kinds of fabric, of the hairs making up the pile.

Approach (a sports player) unlawfully with a view to signing them to another club while they are still under contract with their current one.

(British) A type of bet in British horse racing, based on the experts' best tips.

Designate or select (someone) for a task or honour, especially membership of an organization or committee

A card game in which players take tricks; properly Napoleon.

To strike gently with a light blow or blows

A bid to take five tricks in the card game Napoleon.

To give a light rap with

A cup, bowl.

To produce with a succession of light blows

To have a nap; to sleep for a short period of time, especially during the day.

To select, as for membership in an organization; designate.

(figuratively) To be off one's guard.

To repair (shoe heels or toes) by applying a thin layer of leather or a substitute material.

To form or raise a soft or fuzzy surface on (fabric or leather).

To attach metal plates to (shoe toes or heels).

(obsolete) To grab; to nab.

To deliver a gentle, light blow or blows.

(cooking) To cover (something) with a sauce. usually in the passive

To walk making light clicks.

To have a short sleep; to be drowsy; to doze.

To tap-dance.

To be in a careless, secure state; to be unprepared; as, to be caught napping.

To furnish with a spigot or tap.

To raise, or put, a nap on.

To pierce in order to draw off liquid

A short sleep; a doze; a siesta.

To draw (liquid) from a vessel or container

Woolly or villous surface of felt, cloth, plants, etc.; an external covering of down, of short fine hairs or fibers forming part of the substance of anything, and lying smoothly in one direction; the pile; as, the nap of cotton flannel or of broadcloth.

(Medicine) To withdraw fluid from (a body cavity).

The loops which are cut to make the pile, in velvet.

To make a physical connection with or open outlets from

Same as Napoleon, 1, below.

To wiretap (a telephone or communications channel).

A period of time spent sleeping;

To establish an electric connection in (a power line), as to divert current secretly.

A soft or fuzzy surface texture

To establish access to or a connection with

The yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave;

To take advantage of; make use of

A short sleep (usually not in bed)

To cut screw threads in (a collar, socket, or other fitting).

A card game similar to whist; usually played for stakes

(Informal) To ask (a person) for money.

Take a siesta;

A gentle blow.

The sound made by such a blow.

A thin layer of leather or a substitute applied to a worn-down shoe heel or toe.

A metal plate attached to the toe or heel of a shoe, as for tap-dancing.

Tap dance.

(Linguistics) See flap.

A valve and spout used to regulate delivery of a fluid at the end of a pipe.

A plug for a bunghole; a spigot.

Liquor drawn from a spigot.

Liquor of a particular brew, cask, or quality.

(Medicine) The removal of fluid from a body cavity

A tool for cutting an internal screw thread.

A makeshift terminal in an electric circuit.

A wiretap.

A tapering cylindrical pin or peg used to stop the vent in a cask.

A device used to dispense liquids.

Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor.

A place where liquor is drawn for drinking.

(mechanics) A device used to cut an internal screw thread. (External screw threads are cut with a die.)

A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it.

An interception of communication by authority.

A device used to listen in secretly on telephone calls.

A procedure that removes fluid from a body cavity.

(finance) The situation where a borrowing government authority issues bonds over a period of time, usually at a fixed price, with volumes sold on a particular day dependent on market conditions.

A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.

(dance) tap dance

The act of touching a touch screen.

A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.

(military) A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed; usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo.

(phonetics) A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound [ɾ] in the standard American English pronunciation of body.

An Indian malarial fever.

To furnish with taps.

To draw off liquid from a vessel.

To deplete, especially of a liquid via a tap; to tap out.

To exploit.

To place a listening or recording device on a telephone or wired connection.

To intercept a communication without authority.

(mechanical) To cut an internal screw thread.

To turn or flip a card or playing piece to remind players that it has already been used that turn (by analogy to "tapping," in the sense of drawing on to the point of temporary exhaustion, the resources or abilities represented by the card).

(informal) To cadge, borrow or beg.

To drain off fluid by paracentesis.

To advance someone for a post or job, or for membership of a club.

To strike lightly.

To touch one's finger, foot, or other body parts on a surface (usually) repeatedly.

To make a sharp noise.

(graphical user interface) To operate an electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) by tapping a specific place on its (capacitive or other) touch screen.

To designate for some duty or for membership, as in 'a tap on the shoulder'.

To have sexual intercourse with.

(combat sports) To submit to an opponent by tapping one's hand repeatedly.

To force (an opponent) to submit.

To put a new sole or heel on.

To strike with a slight or gentle blow; to touch gently; to rap lightly; to pat; as, to tap one with the hand or a cane.

To put a new sole or heel on; as, to tap shoes.

To strike a gentle blow.

To pierce so as to let out, or draw off, a fluid; as, to tap a cask, a tree, a tumor, a keg of beer, etc.

Hence, to draw resources from (a reservoir) in any analogous way; as, to tap someone's knowledge of the Unix system; to tap the treasury.

To draw, or cause to flow, by piercing.

To form an internal screw in (anything) by means of a tool called a tap; as, to tap a nut, a pipe, or tubing.

To connect a listening device to (a telephone or telegraph line) secretly, for the purpose of hearing private conversations; also, to obtain or record (information) by tapping; - a technique used by law enforcement agencies investigating suspected criminals. In the United States it is illegal without a court order permitting it.

A gentle or slight blow; a light rap; a pat.

A piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in repairing or renewing the sole or heel.

A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, - usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo.

A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn.

A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like; a faucet.

Liquor drawn through a tap; hence, a certain kind or quality of liquor; as, a liquor of the same tap.

A place where liquor is drawn for drinking; a taproom; a bar.

A tool for forming an internal screw, as in a nut, consisting of a hardened steel male screw grooved longitudinally so as to have cutting edges.

The sound made by a gentle blow

A faucet for drawing water from a pipe or cask

A gentle blow

A small metal plate that attaches to the toe or heel of a shoe (as in tap dancing)

A tool for cutting female (internal) screw threads

A plug for a bunghole in a cask

The act of tapping a telephone or telegraph line to get information

A light touch or stroke

Cut a female screw thread with a tap

Draw from or dip into to get something;

Strike lightly;

Draw from; make good use of;

Tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information;

Furnish with a tap or spout, so as to be able to draw liquid from it;

Make light, repeated taps on a surface;

Walk with a tapping sound

Dance and make rhythmic clicking sounds by means of metal plates nailed to the sole of the dance shoes;

Draw (liquor) from a tap;

Pierce in order to draw a liquid from;

Make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently;