Other forms: tapered, tapering, tapers
To taper is to grow gradually narrower towards one end. Taper to a point, tapered trousers, taper off.
Taper off means to reduce gradually, and in medicine tapering a drug rather than stopping it is often essential. As a noun, a taper is a thin candle used to light others. Note that the Old English word meant a candle, and the sense of narrowing came from the candle's shape.
1verbtaperTo grow gradually narrower towards one end.
“The leaves are wide at the base and taper to a sharp point.”
2nounthinA thin candle used to light others.
“He lit a taper from the fire and used it to light the candles on the altar.”
taper is a narrowing.
Old English tapor means a candle or wick, of uncertain origin. The sense of narrowing came from the shape of a candle.
Latin
papyrus — papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle
Old English
tapor — taper, candle, wick of a lamp
Middle English
taper
English, today
taper
From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”); If so, it is a a doublet of papyrus; but compare Old French taper (“taper, slender candle or light”). Alternatively, of cel - origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (“(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid. before
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA