Meaning

noun a drumbeat or bugle call that signals the military to return to their quarters

noun a design on the skin made by tattooing

noun the practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining

originFrom earlier tap-to, borrowed from Dutch taptoe, from tap (“tap; faucet on a cask”) + toe (“to; shut”). More at tap, to.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0