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tag 2 (tăg)
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n.
1. Games A children's game in which one player pursues the others until that player is able to touch one of the other players, who then in turn becomes the pursuer.
2. Baseball The act of tagging a base runner.
3. Sports The act of tagging a ball carrier in touch football.
tr.v. tagged, tag·ging, tags
1. To touch (another player) in the game of tag.
2. Baseball To touch (a base runner) with the ball in order to make a putout.
3. Sports To touch (a ball carrier) to end a play in touch football.
Phrasal Verb:
tag upBaseball
To return to and touch a base with one foot before running to the next base after a fielder has caught a fly ball.
[Perhaps variant of Scots tig, touch, tap, probably alteration of Middle English tek.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

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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