tar

A black, oil, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.

Noun

  1. A black, oil, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.

    1. Coal tar.

    2. (uncountable) (often typeset "tar" in USA) A solid residual byproduct of tobacco smoke.

  2. A sailor (because of the traditional tarpaulin clothes).
    • Shines in all climates like a star; In senates bold, and fierce in war; A land commander, and a tar. - 1723, Jonathan Swift, To Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough:
    • a ruminating tar was[…]adorning [the wooden settle] with his jack-knife,[…]trying his hand at a ship under full sail. - 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:
    • If there's one man that I admire, that man's a British tar. - 1915, W. McMann, “Our Picture Show”, in Western Evening Herald:

    Synonyms: Jack Tar Jack tar jacktar jack tarpaulin

  3. Ellipsis of black tar heroin.

Origin

PIE word *dóru From Middle English ter, terr, tarr, from Old English teoru, from Proto-West Germanic *teru, from Proto-Germanic *terwą, from Proto-Indo-European *derwo-, from *dóru (“tree”). See also Saterland Frisian Taar, West Frisian tarre, tar, Dutch teer, German Teer; also Welsh derw (“oaks”), Lithuanian dervà (“pinewood, resin”), Russian де́рево (dérevo, “tree”), Bulgarian дърво́ (dǎrvó, “tree”). More at tree.

Forms

tars

Derived

Archangel tar Athabasca tar sands beat the tar out of birch tar black as tar black tar coal tar gas tar green tar Jack Tar jacktar juniper tar mineral tar pine tar pitch-tar slow as tar spoil the ship for a hap'orth of tar Stockholm tar tar baby tar-black tar board tar boil tarbrush tarbucket

Noun computing, engineering

  1. A program for archiving files, common on Unix systems.
  2. A file produced by such a program.

Origin

Abbreviation of tape archive.

Forms

tars

Derived

tarball tarbomb tarfile

Noun Entry 3

  1. A Persian long-necked, waisted string instrument, shared by many cultures and countries in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
    • MOHAMMAD REZA SHAJARIAN (Thursday) Renowned in his native Iran, the vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian has been performing since the 1960s, and is now widely considered one of the finest classical Persian singers in the...

Origin

Borrowed from Persian تار (târ). Doublet of tantra.

Forms

tars tār

Noun Entry 4

  1. A single-headed round frame drum originating in North Africa and the Middle East.

Origin

Etymology tree Arabic طار (ṭār)bor. English tar Borrowed from Arabic طار (ṭār).

Forms

tars

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative form of tara (“Indian coin”).

Forms

tars

Verb Entry 6

  1. To coat with tar.
  2. To besmirch.
    • The allegations tarred his name, even though he was found innocent.
    • Dr. Sign: In fact, maybe you think I should get credit, but if I do, Dr. Frendall will be scorned. You know why Dr. Ellsworth: Yes, I know. Your critics will tar him with the same brush as you. - 1995, Paul Robinson,...

Forms

tars tarring tarred

Derived

retar tar and feather tar out tar with the same brush tar with the same stick untarred

Verb computing, engineering

  1. To create a tar archive.

Forms

tars tarring tarred

Antonyms

untar

Derived

untar