tab

Multiple Entries:
  tab    TAB  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tab1

▶noun

• 1 a small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, etc.

  ■ Brit. Military a collar marking distinguishing an officer of high rank.

  ■ North American term for ring pull.

• 2 informal a tally of items ordered in a bar or restaurant.

  ■ chiefly N. Amer. a restaurant bill.

• 3 Aeronautics a hinged part of a control surface.

• 4 informal, chiefly N. English a cigarette.

▶verb (tabs, tabbing, tabbed) mark with a tab.

– phrases
keep tabs (or a tab) on informal monitor the activities or development of.
pick up the tab informal pay for something.

– derivatives
tabbed adjective.

– origin ME: perh. rel. to tag1.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tab2

▶noun short for tabulator. ▶verb (tabs, tabbing, tabbed) short for tabulate.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tab3

▶noun informal a tablet, especially one containing an illicit drug.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tab4

▶noun N. Amer. informal a tabloid newspaper.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
TAB/tab/

▶abbreviation

• 1 Austral./NZ Totalizator Agency Board.

• 2 typhoid–paratyphoid A and B vaccine.