ta·per / ˈtāpər/ • n. a slender candle. ∎  a wick coated with wax, used for conveying a flame. ∎  a gradual narrowing: the current industry standard taper of 5 degrees.• v. diminish or reduce or cause to diminish or reduce in thickness toward one end: [intr.] the tail tapers to a rounded tip | [tr.] David asked my dressmaker to taper his trousers. ∎  [intr.] gradually lessen: the impact of the dollar's depreciation started to taper off.

taper. Gradual diminution in width or thickness in any elongated object towards one extremity or another, e.g. herm, obelisk, spire, or term. Column-shafts properly do not taper, as they diminish with height not in a straight taper but a curved entasis.

taper wax candle OE.; long wick coated with wax for use as a spill XIX. OE. tapor, -er, -ur — (with dissim. of p..p to t..p) L. papyrus.
Hence taper adj. becoming continuously narrower in one direction XV; whence taper vb. XVI.