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tab¹

(tăb)

1. A projection, flap, or short strip attached to an object to facilitate opening, handling, or identification.

2. A small, usually decorative flap or tongue on a garment.

3. A small auxiliary airfoil that is attached to a larger one and that helps stabilize an aircraft.

4. A pull-tab.

tr.v. tabbed, tab·bing, tabs

To supply with a tab or tabs.

[Origin unknown.]

tab²

(tăb)

1. Informal

a. A bill or check, such as one for a meal in a restaurant.

b. Cost; price: The tab for upgrading the computers would be high.

2. A tabulator on a typewriter.

3. Computers

a. A key on a computer keyboard that, when pressed, inserts a special ASCII character used for formatting text, as in indenting a line or block of text.

b. This special ASCII character.

intr.v. tabbed, tab·bing, tabs

To press the tab on a typewriter or computer keyboard: Tab over to the next column.

Idiom:

keep tabs on Informal

To observe carefully over time: Let's keep tabs on expenditures.

[Short for TABLET or TABULATION. Sense 2, short for TABULATOR.]

tab³

(tăb) Informal

A tabloid.

tab.

abbr.

table

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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