tab

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tab"

Translingual

Symbol

tab

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Tabasaran.

See also

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tæb/, [tʰæb̥]
  • Audio (Australia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æb

Etymology 1

First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
    Antonym: slot
    Coordinate term: tang
    insert tab A into slot B
  2. (slang) An ear.
  3. (by extension, computing, graphical user interface)
    2. A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
    3. The page or form (for example, on a web browser or file manager) associated with such a navigational widget.
      How many tabs are open on your browser right now?
      • 2020 December 11, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Is your browser window full of open tabs? Time for a digital declutter”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 October 2026:
        That’s the relief I feel when clearing all the tabs in my internet browser. Clicking the crosses like a long line of kisses finally indulged.
  4. (British Army, military slang) A fast march or run with full kit.
Translations

Verb

tab (third-person singular simple present tabs, present participle tabbing, simple past and past participle tabbed)

  1. (transitive) To affix with tabs; to label.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Apocopation (shortening) of (variously) tabulate, tabulator, or tabulation.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  2. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) A restaurant bill.
    to pick up the tab
  3. (informal, chiefly Canada, US) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate.
    to start a tab
    Put this round on my tab, please, barman.
    • 2025 May 31, Paula Mejía, “Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2026:
      As he fished a Visa credit card out of his green leather wallet, the bartender yelled out a question over the music: “Do you want to start a tab?” Mr. Korinke shook his head no and swiftly closed out. The pair might order more drinks later on, but the prospect of opening a tab was verboten. […] His ethos reflects a growing phenomenon among Gen Z bargoers: an aversion to opening bar tabs.
  4. (by extension) The cost or bill for anything.
    • 1984, Time, volume 123, number 1:
      Moreover, at a tab of $9 million, the system's price is about $1 million less than a conventional heating-cooling plant […]
  5. (typography, computing) A space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.
    Synonyms: tabulator, \t
    • 2016 May 29, Carson Mell, “Bachmanity Insanity”, in Silicon Valley, season 3, episode 6, spoken by Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch):
      No no no no I don't, it's not hate, hate is a strong word, truth be told I do have a slight preference for tabs but that's only because I'm anal and because I prefer precision.
      ̅

Verb

tab (third-person singular simple present tabs, present participle tabbing, simple past and past participle tabbed)

  1. (computing) To use the Tab key on a computer to advance the cursor or move the input focus, or on a typewriter to advance the carriage.
    • 2010, Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4, page 210:
      You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

Likely to have been formed by clipping the Geordie pronunciation of the word tobacco or alternatively from the brand name Ogden's Tabs.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (Geordie and Mackem) A cigarette.
    Lend us a tab!
Translations

References

  • Frank Graham, editor (1987), “TAB”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.

Etymology 4

Clipping of tablature.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. A form of musical notation indicating fingering rather than the pitch of notes, commonly used for stringed instruments.
Translations

Etymology 5

Clipping of Cantab, from Cantabrigian, from Latin Cantabrigia (“Cambridge”).

Alternative forms

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (Oxbridge slang) A student of Cambridge University.
    • 1995 January 20, Paul Thomas, “Re: >Re: Those 'orrible Tabs”, in rec.sport.rowing‎[3] (Usenet):
      You should have been there---it was a good race. Just to clarify matters for the hard of understanding, the tabs led for about 1500m before turning to shrapnel, and Oxford eventually won by 3/4 length.
    • 1995 February 7, "Laser Cartridge" [username], “Re: Cambridge News, again.”, in rec.sport.rowing‎[4] (Usenet):
      Before Rachel gets in with a stab at the Tabs' coxing efforts, may I say that my experience of coxes on the Isis is somewhat similar.
    • 1998 January 17, whitey [username], “Re: Tab bashing (was University Challenge - Its pish)”, in rec.arts.tv.uk.misc‎[5] (Usenet):
      Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-)
    • 2002 March 27, The Guv'nor [username], “Re: My target this week was...”, in uk.rec.bodybuilding‎[6] (Usenet):
      I hope the Tabs get beaten! :-) I support Oxford for no real reason but they have a bad habit of losing to Cambridge recently.
    • 2002 March 29, Caroline Smith, “Re: Lifejackets thread returns... [was Re: Boat Race]”, in rec.sport.rowing‎[7] (Usenet):
      I have nothing against the girl (other than the fact she's a tab!), but it does strike me as a little daft!!
    • 2006 March 30, JY [username], “Veterans Boat Race (that's Oxford, England vs Cambridge, England)”, in rec.sport.rowing‎[8] (Usenet):
      Anybody know who won? ¶ Or should that be, how much did the Tabs win by? ;-)

Etymology 6

Clipping of tabloid.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (colloquial, publishing) A tabloid newspaper.
    • 1999, George H. Douglas, The Golden Age of the Newspaper‎[9], Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 229:
      By 1926 the tabloid mania was at full tilt, and the tabs in New York went at each other with hammer and tong.
    • 2004 January 16, Michael Hann, “The tabloid week”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[10], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 October 2026:
      The tabloids were able to spend much of the week confronting their demons. Maxine Carr's request to be released from prison early prompted the tabs to let her know what they thought of her suggestion.
    • 2010, Robert Lusetich, Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season‎[11], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
      That is the attitude of the tabs: they cover the world's most important city.
    • 2010 November 8, Michael White, “It is silly for liberals to pretend that no one plays the benefit system”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[12], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 October 2026:
      If ministers disappoint—they usually do—the tabloids can cry "betrayal". They never lose. But just because the tabs are often flagrantly dishonest (in more expensive papers you get a better class of dishonesty) doesn't mean they're always wrong.

Etymology 7

Clipping of tablet.

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (informal) A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.
    • 2008, Stephen King, Graduation Weekend:
      Tonight the kids will go out and party down in a more righteous mode. Alcohol and not a few tabs of X will be ingested. Club music will throb through big speakers.
Translations

Etymology 8

Noun

tab (plural tabs)

  1. (informal, theater) A tableau curtain.
Derived terms

See also

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology 1

Derived from the verb tabe (“to lose”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈtˢæˀb̥]

Noun

tab n (singular definite tabet, plural indefinite tab)

  1. loss
  2. casualty
Declension
Declension of tab
neuter
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative tab tabet tab tabene
genitive tabs tabets tabs tabenes

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈtˢæˀb̥], (colloquial) IPA(key): [ˈtˢæwˀ]

Verb

tab

  1. imperative of tabe

Guianese Creole

Etymology

From French table.

Noun

tab

  1. table (an item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground)

References

  • Barthelemi, Georges (1995), Dictionnaire pratique créole guyanais - français [Practical Guianese Creole-French Dictionary] (in French), Cayenne: Ibis Rouge Éditions, →ISBN, page 187

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French table.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tab/

Noun

tab

  1. table (an item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground)

References

  • Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎[13], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 186

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism. Borrowed from English tab.

Pronunciation

Noun

tab (plural tab-tab)

  1. (computing) tab
    2. a navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.
    3. the page or form (for example, on a web browser or file manager) associated with such a navigational widget.

Derived terms

  • tab inkognito
  • tab samaran

Further reading

Nawdm

Etymology

Cognate with Kabiye tɔʋ, Gur Lama tʋn, Tem tɔ́ɔ́wʊ, Mbelime ta̰nbù, Gourmanchéma dabanli, Moba talbann, Farefare tãpɔ, Moore tãpo, Dagbani tɔbu, Ntcham butɔbu.

Noun

tab b (plural tawni ɦi)

  1. bow

References

  • Bakabima, Koulon Stéphane; Nicole, Jacques (2018), Nawdm-French Dictionary‎[14]

Réunion Creole French

Etymology

From French table.

Noun

tab

  1. table (an item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground)

References

  • Armand, Alain (1987), Dictionnaire Kréol rénioné/Français [Reunionese Creole-French Dictionary] (in French), Océan Éditions, →ISBN, page 343

Sumerian

Romanization

tab

  1. romanization of 𒋰 (tab)

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English table (table → tab; compare French: table, Latin: tabula, Interlingua: tabula, Esperanto: tablo, Ido: tablo).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [tab]

Noun

tab (genitive taba, plural tabs)

  1. table (item of furniture)

Declension

Declension of tab
Singular Plural
Nominative tab tabs
Genitive taba tabas
Dative tabe tabes
Accusative tabi tabis
Predicative1 tabu tabus
Vocative o tab o tabs
  1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

Derived terms

  • blümükamatab
  • bötädatab
  • dunetatab
  • fidatab
  • flanatab
  • gämatab
  • kläpatab
  • klünatab
  • klünatabil
  • lavatab
  • layetatab
  • letab
  • näitab
  • penamatab
  • pledamatab
  • seidön oki leni tab
  • stofedön tabi
  • tab laidalotanas
  • tababoed
  • tabagefem
  • tabaletaned
  • tabasal
  • tabasog
  • tabastofed
  • tabastofädem
  • tabastömem
  • tabategäd
  • tabavamükian
  • tabavin
  • tabel
  • tabik
  • tabil
  • trümatab

Further reading

  • “tab”, in Vödabuk (in English, Esperanto, and Volapük)

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English tab.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tab/
  • Rhymes: -ab

Noun

tab m (plural tabiau or tabs)

  1. tab (numerous senses)
    Mae gen ti ormod o dabiau ar agor.
    You've got too many tabs open.
    Rho fe ar y tab.
    Put it on the tab.

Mutation

Mutated forms of tab
radical soft nasal aspirate
tab dab nhab thab

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “tab”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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