Tap into | English expression meaning | Free online lessons with examples (2024)

Tap into

Today’s English expression is “tap into.” We use this expression when we’ve decided to use some of what we’ve saved or stored.

Prices are going up for many things all over the world. But energy prices are really rising. And large countries, including the United States, India, South Korea, and Japan, have all agreed to tap into their strategic oil reserves. These countries maintain an emergency stockpile of oil that can be sold into the market when there are shortages. When they use that oil they have saved up, they tap into the reserves. Supposedly, if the price of oil spikes, then the governments can release more oil into the market to bring the price down a little.

The biggest reserves in the world are right here in the U.S.; we have saved up in total 31 days’ worth of consumption. When American presidents give the order to tap into the reserves, it doesn’t do much to the price, but it does make the president look like he’s doing something about rising prices.

They have a strategic reserve of something very important in Canada, too: maple syrup. And the maple syrup producers have decided to tap into the reserve this year because demand is so high compared to last year’s harvest. They have decided to use a little of what they’ve saved up this year.

Individuals can tap into their savings if they decide to spend some of their savings on something important. There are many reasons to tap into your savings: you might need the money for a big purchase like a car or a house; you might tap into your savings to start a business; or if you lose your job, you might have to tap into your savings to meet your monthly expenses for a short period of time.

The opposite of “tap into,” in case you’re wondering, is the word “replenish.” So after tapping into the maple syrup reserve this year, the producers in Quebec should replenish the reserve the next time they have a strong harvest.

Quote of the Week

Today’s quote of the week is by Simone Weil, a French philosopher. She said, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” Not to try to one-up a French philosopher, but I would also add that it’s free to give. Simone Weil died in 1943, well before the invention of the smartphone. But her words are especially useful today, when attention seems so fleeting and so scarce. So here’s today’s quote once more: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

See you next time!

That’s all for today. Congratulations on making it to the end of another Plain English lesson. Remember we are here every Monday and Thursday with new lessons about, well, anything that interests me!

Coming up on Thursday…you’ll learn all about the ubiquitous QR codes. You see them everywhere, but do you know how they work or where they came from? That’s all coming up on Thursday. See you then.