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Tab vs Click - What's the difference?

tab | click |

As nouns the difference between tab and click

is that tab is a small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, etc while click is a brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock or a latch, or a finger pressed against the thumb and then released to strike the hand.

As verbs the difference between tab and click

is that tab is mark with a tab while click is to cause to make a click; to operate (a switch, etc) so that it makes a click.

As an interjection click is

the sound of a click.

tab

English

Etymology 1

First attested 1607, of uncertain origin.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small flap or strip of material attached to something, for holding, manipulation, identification, etc.
  • * 1993 , Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting , p 333:
  • He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans.
  • (by extension, graphical user interface) A navigational widget for switching between sets of controls or documents.
  • (label) A tablet, especially one containing illicit drugs.
  • A fast march or run with full kit.
  • Verb

  • Mark with a tab.
  • (computing) To use the Tab key on a computer or typewriter to navigate the screen or page.
  • * 2010 , Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4 (page 210)
  • You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.
  • Short for tabulate.
  • Derived terms
    * keep tabs on * tabbed

    Etymology 2

    Apocopation (shortening) of tabulation.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (informal) A restaurant bill.
  • (slang) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar.
  • Put this round on my tab , will you, barman.
  • Short for tabulator.
  • (computing) A space character ((tab)) that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.
  • Derived terms
    * pick up the tab

    Etymology 3

    Likely to have been formed by clipping the Geordie pronunciation of the word or alternatively from the brand name Ogden's Tabs .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Geordie and Mackem) cigarette.
  • Giv'is a tab man!

    References

    *

    Etymology 4

    Shortening of tablature.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A form of musical notation indicating fingering rather than the pitch of notes, commonly used for stringed instruments.
  • Etymology 5

    Derived from the Latin Cantabrigia (often shortened to Cantab.).

    Noun

  • (rfv-sense)(slang) A student of Cambridge University.
  • Etymology 6

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) A tabloid newspaper.
  • * 1999 , George H. Douglas, The Golden Age of the Newspaper, p. 229:
  • * 2010 , Robert Lusetich, Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season:
  • Anagrams

    * * * * English clippings ----

    click

    English

    (wikipedia click)

    Etymology 1

    Imitative of the "click" sound; first recorded in the 1500s.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock or a latch, or a finger pressed against the thumb and then released to strike the hand.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
  • There was a click in the front sitting-room. Mr. Pearce had extinguished the lamp.
  • (phonetics) An ingressive sound made by coarticulating a velar or uvular closure with another closure.
  • Sound made by a dolphin.
  • The act of operating a switch, etc., so that it clicks.
  • The act of pressing a button on a computer mouse.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about:

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause to make a click; to operate (a switch, etc) so that it makes a click.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • [Jove] clicked all his marble thumbs.
  • * Thackeray
  • She clicked back the bolt which held the window sash.
  • * Tennyson
  • when merry milkmaids click the latch
  • (direct and indirect) To press and release (a button on a computer mouse).
  • To select a software item using, usually, but not always, the pressing of a mouse button.
  • (advertising) To visit a web site.
  • Visit a location, call, or click www.example.com
  • To emit a click.
  • He bent his fingers back until the joints clicked .
  • To click the left button of a computer mouse while pointing.
  • Click here to go to the next page.
  • To make sense suddenly.
  • Then it clicked - I had been going the wrong way all that time.
  • To get on well.
  • When we met at the party, we just clicked and we’ve been best friends ever since.
  • (dated) To tick.
  • * Goldsmith
  • The varnished clock that clicked behind the door.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • The sound of a click.
  • Click! The door opened.

    Derived terms

    * click one's fingers * double-click * point-and-click * right-click

    See also

    * ejective * tsk, tsk tsk

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Etymology 3

    Compare (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A detent, pawl, or ratchet, such as that which catches the cogs of a ratchet wheel to prevent backward motion.
  • (UK, dialect) The latch of a door.
  • Etymology 4

    (etyl) kleken? clichen? Compare clutch.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To snatch.
  • (Halliwell)
    English intransitive verbs English transitive verbs

    Etymology 5

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US)
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (US)
  • ----