Meanings
plural punched tapes
- historicaluncountableusuallycomputingSynonym of paper tape (“an early sequential digital storage medium originally used with teletype machines, consisting of a long roll of paper, each character being encoded as a pattern of punched holes”).
Train positions and speeds were established by a track magnet at each milepost, which produced a suitable mark on the punched recording tape whenever a train passed.
1960 December, “Talking of Trains: Recording Electric Operation”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 707Synonyms: punched paper tape, paper tape
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of paper tape (“an early sequential digital storage medium originally used with teletype machines, consisting of a long roll of paper, each character being encoded as a pattern of punched holes”).
Origin
From punched (adjective) + tape.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with punched tape
Cite this entry
punched tape. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punched%20tape
“punched tape.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punched%20tape. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “punched tape,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punched%20tape.
Source: punched tape on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.