wiretapped
Meaning
To secretly listen to or record someone's telephone conversations by making a connection to their telephone line.
Describing a telephone or other communication device that has been fitted with equipment to allow secret listening.
Structure
Usage
The federal agents wiretapped the suspect's phone for three months.
They discovered their office phone had been wiretapped.
The journalist feared her calls were wiretapped by government authorities.
Etymology
The term 'wiretapped' is a modern compound verb formed from the nouns 'wire' and 'tap'. 'Wire', with its ancient Germanic roots referring to metal thread, evolved to signify telegraph and later telephone lines. 'Tap', with a sense of striking lightly to draw liquid, metaphorically extended to mean secretly intercepting or drawing information from a communication channel. The compound 'wiretap' emerged in the early 20th century with the proliferation of telephony, literally describing the act of making a clandestine connection to a telephone wire. The past participle 'wiretapped' specifically denotes the completed action of installing such a device or the state of a line having been compromised.
Analysis
- wire (noun): From Old English wīr, of Germanic origin, meaning a metal thread. In this compound, it refers to the telephone line. - tapped (verb): Past tense/past participle of 'tap', from Middle English tappen, of uncertain origin, meaning to strike lightly or to draw upon a resource. In this compound, it means to intercept or make a secret connection to a line.