TAMPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tamper mean? 

• TAMPER (noun)
  The noun TAMPER has 1 sense:

1. a tool for tamping (e.g., for tamping tobacco into a pipe bowl or a charge into a drill hole etc.)

  Familiarity information: TAMPER used as a noun is very rare.

• TAMPER (verb)
  The verb TAMPER has 2 senses:

1. play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly

2. intrude in other people's affairs or business; interfere unwantedly

  Familiarity information: TAMPER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAMPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tool for tamping (e.g., for tamping tobacco into a pipe bowl or a charge into a drill hole etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

tamp; tamper; tamping bar

Hypernyms ("tamper" is a kind of...):

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tamper"):

stemmer (a miner's tamping bar for ramming packing in over a blasting charge)

Derivation:

tamp (press down tightly)

• TAMPER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tamper    ... he / she / it tampers   
Past simple: tampered   
Past participle: tampered   
-ing form: tampering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fiddle; monkey; tamper

Context example:

The reporter fiddle with the facts

Hypernyms (to "tamper" is one way to...):

manipulate (hold something in one's hands and move it)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Intrude in other people's affairs or business; interfere unwantedly

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

meddle; tamper

Context example:

Don't meddle in my affairs!

Hypernyms (to "tamper" is one way to...):

interfere; interpose; intervene; step in (get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

tampering (the act of altering something secretly or improperly)

 Context examples 

“Someone has been tampering with it,” he said.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nevertheless, I forbid you, I distinctly forbid your tampering with my ship.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He had tampered with drugs and done many strange things in quest of new thrills, new sensations.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As explained by Professor Summerlee, our cameras have been tampered with by the ape-men when they ransacked our camp, and most of our negatives ruined.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He claims to be the first gentleman of England, but the gentlemen of England have responded by blackballing his friends at their clubs, and by warning him off from Newmarket under suspicion of having tampered with a horse.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The dead man’s papers had not been tampered with.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were some papers of importance in the cupboard, but there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and the professor assures me that nothing was missing.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I cannot allow the examination to be held if one of the papers has been tampered with.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had nearly fainted when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames: that, unless the Indian student recognized the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered with them came upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)