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Red tape

noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The binding tape once used for holding important documents together. uncountable

    "The use of red tape for tying up papers is of considerable antiquity. An advertisement in the Public Intelligencer, December 6, 1658, offers the reward for a restoration of a 'A little bundle of papers tied with a red tape, were lost on Friday last was a sevennight, between Worcester House and Lincoln's Inn."

  2. 2
    needlessly time-consuming procedure wordnet
  3. 3
    Time-consuming regulations or bureaucratic procedures. idiomatic, metonymically, uncountable

    "All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress."

Etymology

Alluding to the former practice of binding government documents in red-colored tape. First use appears c. 1658 in the publication Public Intelligencer. See cite below.

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