tagging, vbl. n.
(ˈtægɪŋ)
[f. tag v.1 and n.1 + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of tag v.1
| 1503 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 202 For ane curpal and ane tee to the harnes sadill, tagging..of the samyn. 1572 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 159 For Tagging of Laces iiij{supd}. 1693 Dennis Imp. Crit. v. 50 'Tis not the tagging of the Acts with a Chorus, that properly makes a Tragedy one Body, but the Unity of the Action. 1779 F. Burney Diary 11 Jan., What trouble and tagging we had! a 1890 New Amer. Farm Bk. 436 (Cent. Dict.) Tagging or clotting is the removal of such wool as is liable to get fouled when the sheep are turned on to the fresh pastures. 1906 Athenæum 2 June 664/3 An occasional..tagging-out of a line. |
b. The marking of animals as an aid to study of their migrations.
| 1927 Zoologica IX. 201 (title) Frog tagging: a method of studying anuran life habits. 1953 Scott & Fisher Thousand Geese vi. 65 We worked away in camp at journals, nest records, tagging data. 1960 Guardian 25 Oct. 8/4 To study the movement and growth rates there is an elaborate system of fish tagging carried out at sea. 1972 Even. Telegram (St. John's, Newfoundland) 24 June 11/1 Tagging studies have shown most salmon intercepted are headed for the northern river spawning beds. |
c. Computers. The action of tag v. 1 e.
| 1948 Theory & Techniques for Design of Electronic Digital Computers (Moore School of Electr. Engin., Univ. of Pennsylvania) IV. xxxix. 20 This tagging is done by the little cycle..until the sentinel..trips on a coincidence and causes the control to go on to the next stage of computation. 1972 Computers & Humanities VII. 5 The study of Automatic Grammatical Tagging of English..describes the theory and method of parts-of-speech tags, procedures used in tagging, and the context frame test employed. 1983 Trans. Philol. Soc. 33 The tagging of the LOB Corpus is due for completion by September 1983. |
2. attrib., as † tagging iron, a tailor's tool for tagging cloth.
| 1436 Exch. Rolls Scotl. IV. 681 Certis ferris scissorum dictis taging irynnis. |
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Add: [1.] d. Also electronic tagging. The action or process of attaching an electronic tag (see *tag n.1 8 h) to an object or person, esp. to control stock or monitor movement. orig. U.S.
| 1977 U.S. News & World Rep. 28 Nov. 61/3 More and more merchants are using electronic tagging to prevent..thefts. 1984 Financial Times 15 Aug. 6/7 Things like carpets, furniture and lawn mowers do not so readily lend themselves to electronic tagging as do the small, packaged contents..of a supermarket. 1987 Times 24 Apr. 5/1 The use of American-style electronic tagging, used to check offenders held in the community are staying within bounds. 1988 Times 18 Jan. 4/3 Tagging involves an electronic device being attached to the offender's ankle or wrist to show he is at home during curfew. 1989 Daily Tel. 20 Dec. 14/2 The latest statistics point to a majority of people working with offenders as being in favour of tagging as a potential reducer of..crime. |
e. The action or process of decorating with graffiti tags; also, these tags collectively. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1984 New Yorker 26 Mar. 98/3 The average age for ‘tagging’ (name-writing)..on the subway is fourteen or fifteen. 1987 Daily Mail 12 Sept. 9/4 The hip-hoppers who put their logos on buses and trains call it ‘tagging’. 1988 Church Times 2 Sept. 5/1 ‘Tagging’ is being added to the general disfigurement of the bridge. 1990 Daily Tel. 11 June 34/7 The region's quality manager..says there are two types of graffiti—‘tagging’, which is scrawly handwriting, or ‘pieces’ which feature a full-blown picture. |