What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Tab vs Pill - What's the difference?

tab | pill |

As nouns the difference between tab and pill

is that tab is a key on computer keyboards while pill is a small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication or pill can be the peel or skin or pill can be an inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.

As a verb pill is

(textiles) of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber or pill can be (label) to peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.

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 ----

    pill

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) or (etyl) pille (whence (etyl) pil), probably from (etyl) pilula.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
  • * 1864 , Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC14843090&id=pHoMvHRmrlIC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22take+two+pills%22&as_brr=1]
  • Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.
  • (senseid) Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
  • Jane went on the pill when she left for college.
    She got pregnant one month after going off the pill .
  • * 1986 , Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind :
  • Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
  • (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
  • (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1960
  • , author= , title=(Jeeves in the Offing) , section=chapter IV , passage=You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. [...] And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.}}
  • * 2000 , Susan Isaacs, Shining Through [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0061030155&id=6_1FJWFEYGoC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=%22a+real+pill%22&sig=RCUR5O3MhNXeq8rMOnx9-LR5Mfo]
  • Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill ; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.
  • (informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
  • * 1999 , Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0060987561&id=LOYeA9GmrEwC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=%22sweater+pills%22&sig=U11GOkTpfHlqyGyIdk7ZNZ0GNuI]
  • One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills ,” hung halfway to the floor.
  • A baseball.
  • * 2002 , John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412038&id=G126RsLD3MsC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22threw+the+pill%22&sig=NmyoxWN_bP5AHc9imVPMTxY7lvw]
  • Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
  • (firearms) (informal) a bullet (projectile)
  • Synonyms
    * (small object for swallowing) tablet
    Derived terms
    * bitter pill to swallow * blue pill * chill pill * horse pill * morning-after pill * on the pill * pill beetle * pill bug * pill popper * red pill * sugar pill * pop pills

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
  • * 1997 , Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1561581895&id=l5h-cGU5HUYC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=sweater+pilling&sig=6gfLWBL1QHVQZmbSYhJ4oipm8Kc]
  • During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.
  • To form into the shape of a pill.
  • Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
  • To medicate with pills.
  • She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
  • To peel; to make by removing the skin.
  • *(Bible), (w) xxx. 37
  • *:[Jacob] pilled white streaksin the rods.
  • To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
  • (label) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
  • *:
  • *:So syr Lucan departed for he was greuously wounded in many places And so as he yede he sawe and herkened by the mone lyght how that pyllars and robbers were comen in to the felde To pylle and robbe many a ful noble knyghte of brochys and bedys of many a good rynge & of many a ryche Iewel / and who that were not deed al oute
  • :(Spenser)
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The peel or skin.
  • * Holland
  • Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills , as the locusts.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.
  • ----