{
  "id": "duct-tape.upkeep",
  "term": "duct tape",
  "sense": "upkeep",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 16,
  "arena": "material systems",
  "domain": "everyday objects",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "maintenance that patches a boundary after it has broken, holding the parts together without restoring the original structure, while drift continues unseen beneath the surface.",
  "folk_gloss": "a strong tape used for quick fixes.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "boundary.limit",
      "drift.aimless",
      "neglect.omission",
      "holding-it-together.upkeep"
    ],
    "interaction": "passive",
    "novel_properties": [
      "invisible maintenance"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 2017 Oroville Dam spillway failure was patched with concrete and rebar, but erosion continued beneath the surface.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Microsoft extended support for Windows 7 after end-of-life, applying security fixes without modernizing the core architecture.",
      "domain": "computing"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 1994 Northridge earthquake exposed how California's aging freeway bridges relied on steel jackets to bind cracked supports.",
      "domain": "infrastructure"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "duct tape"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — invisible maintenance"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-duct-tape.upkeep"
}