Which preposition to use with tapping

at Occurrences 191%

The half-spread leaves seemed to tap at the window, with an appeal to be taken in; the primroses, that showed golden upon the grass at the roots of the trees, just beyond the smooth-shorn grass of the lawn, were all drooped and sodden among their sheltering leaves.

on Occurrences 124%

That night while sleeping at the Perry House, I was awakened by a tap on the shoulder and upon looking up I was considerably surprised to see the room filled with armed negroes who had their guns all pointed at me.

of Occurrences 76%

It was a warm afternoon, and the air was calm; not a breath stirred the leaves on the old trees around us; the forest sounds were hushed, save the tap of the woodpecker on his hollow tree, or an occasional drumming of a partridge on his log.

with Occurrences 35%

There was no mistake about itsome one was gently tapping with his knuckles on the other side of the door.

of Occurrences 29%

A woman, wailing, fled from the chamber, a chair crashed to the floor; came a strange, quick tapping of feet upon the floor and thereafter rose a cry that swelled louder to a screamlouder to a bubbling shriek, and dying to a groaning hiss, was gone.

in Occurrences 20%

Feet may beat a snare of pleasure on the pavement, glad cries may pipe across the darkness, a fiddle may scratch its invitationall the rumbling notes of midnight traffic will tap in vain their summons upon his window.

for Occurrences 19%

When rest was over, we washed and dressed, and then Mrs. Harry asked for clay to make a water-tap for her house.

at Occurrences 9%

Early in the morning there came a tapping at the window that wakened me; so I rose and drew back the curtain, and saw that Will was moving about in the garden.

on Occurrences 6%

There was a heavy tapping on the door itself.

from Occurrences 6%

Around them dance by twos and threes the rest of the women with dishevelled locks and loosened robes, whom Rama taps from time to time with his cane whenever they show signs of giving in.

into Occurrences 6%

The bolts are tapped into the lower portion of the cap, and are fitted very accurately by scraping where they pass through the upper portion, so as to act as steady pins in preventing the cover of the crank pin bearing from being worked sideways by the alternate thrust on each side.

against Occurrences 5%

Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound and air-tight.

to Occurrences 4%

Take the ripest and largest kentish cherries you can get, bruise them very well, stones and stalks altogether, put them into a tub, having a tap to it, let them stand fourteen days, then pull out the tap, let the juice run from them and put it into a barrel, let it work three or four days, then stop it up close three or four weeks and bottle it off.

before Occurrences 3%

He was ever fond of wandering about the estate alone, and often took solitary walks on bright nights with his stout stick tapping before him.

above Occurrences 2%

Then he heard that eerie, light tapping above him on the skylight.

about Occurrences 2%

Small persons taken with a sudden wish to go down and see what father and mamma were about could do so; one would go tapping about with a little crutch, another would curl himself up at the end of the room, and never seem at all in the way.

near Occurrences 2%

The trees are tapped near the top, the soft part of the trunks is hollowed out, and the sap collects in this empty space.

along Occurrences 1%

When she heard my little stick come tapping along she tried to hide them,I mean her tears, of course, Mr. Bellew, and when I drew her dear, beautiful head down into my arms, shetried to smile.

through Occurrences 1%

The furnaces should be stayed together with bolts of the best scrap iron, 1-1/4 inch in diameter, tapped through both plates of the water space with thin nuts in each furnace; and it is expedient to make the row of stays, running horizontally near the level of the bars, sufficiently low to come beneath the top of the bars, so as to be shielded from the action of the fire, with which view they should follow the inclination of the bars.

like Occurrences 1%

The wind tapped like a tired man, And like a host, "Come in," I boldly answered; entered then My residence within A rapid, footless guest, To offer whom a chair Were as impossible as hand A sofa to the air.

under Occurrences 1%

Indeed, I had remarked, early in the morning, that an icicle of quite respectable length (for a small provincial town), depended from the public water-tap under the Methodist Chapel.

after Occurrences 1%

Jules was at the front door letting in the usual Wednesday-evening visitor, but now he came running in immediately with his own invention in the way of a gas-stick,a piece of broom-handle notched at the end,and began turning one tap after the other, until the room was reduced to complete darkness.

across Occurrences 1%

So the high heels of Donnegan tapped across the floor of Lebrun's.

in Occurrences 1%

For in the church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my young gentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by Parson Glenniewho should know betterthat such noises were not made by ghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart, and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat.

down Occurrences 1%

At last a step came tapping down the bricked passage, a bolt was withdrawn, and an old woman, in a coarse brown dress and a starched mob, looked out.

Which preposition to use with  tapping