tar

¹

[ tahr ]

noun

1. any of various dark-colored viscid products obtained by the destructive distillation of certain organic substances, as coal or wood.
2. coal-tar pitch.
3. smoke solids or components:

   cigarette tar.

verb (used with object)

, tarred, tar·ring.

1. to smear or cover with or as if with tar.

adjective

1. of or characteristic of tar.
2. covered or smeared with tar; tarred.

tar

²

[ tahr ]

noun

, Informal: Older Use.

1. a sailor.

   Synonyms: gob, seafarer

tar

¹

/ tɑː /

noun

1. See seaman
   an informal word for seaman

tar

²

/ tɑː /

noun

1. any of various dark viscid substances obtained by the destructive distillation of organic matter such as coal, wood, or peat
2. See coal tar
   another name for coal tar

verb

1. to coat with tar
2. tar and feather
   tar and feather to punish by smearing tar and feathers over (someone)
3. tarred with the same brush
   tarred with the same brush regarded as having the same faults

tar

/ tär /

1. A dark, oily, viscous material, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons, produced by the destructive distillation of organic substances such as wood, coal, or peat.
2. See coal tar
3. A solid, sticky substance that remains when tobacco is burned. It accumulates in the lungs of smokers and is considered carcinogenic.

Derived Forms

• ˈtarriness, noun
• ˈtarry, adjective

Other Words From

• non·tarred adjective
• un·tarred adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tar¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun ter, terr(e), Old English teru, teoru, taru; cognate with Dutch, German teer, Old Norse tjara; akin to tree; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of tar²

First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps short for tarpaulin

Word History and Origins

Origin of tar¹

C17: short for tarpaulin

Origin of tar²

Old English teoru; related to Old Frisian tera, Old Norse tjara, Middle Low German tere tar, Gothic triu tree

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. beat / knock / whale the tar out of, Informal. to beat mercilessly:

   The thief had knocked the tar out of the old man and left him for dead.

2. tar and feather,
   1. to coat (a person) with tar and feathers as a punishment or humiliation.
   2. to punish severely:

      She should be tarred and feathered for what she has done.

3. tarred with the same brush, possessing the same shortcomings or guilty of the same misdeeds:

   The whole family is tarred with the same brush.

More idioms and phrases containing tar

In addition to the idiom beginning with tar , also see beat the living daylights (tar) out of .

Synonym Study

See sailor.

Example Sentences

The tar that holds old metal roofs together sometimes melts.

From ProPublica

By taring the weight, you can use one bowl for all of your ingredients.

From Popular-Science

An additional complication to the cleanup, Mowers said, was that if the liquid tar sets for a period, it can harden on the road.

From Washington Post

In the tobacco case, they went out and found all the studies where mice painted with tobacco tar didn’t get cancer.

From Nautilus

If they’re going to get tarred as privacy-invasive, no amount of payoff is worth it.

From Digiday

The State Department found that with high oil prices, the tar sands would be mined for oil, pipeline or no.

From The Daily Beast

Pulling oil from the tar sands is costly, even more so when you tack transportation costs on top.

From The Daily Beast

Therefore, we should—you guessed it—develop the Canadian tar sands and build the Keystone pipeline.

From The Daily Beast

Loescher repeatedly emphasized that these sites are by no means limited to the La Brea Tar Pits.

From The Daily Beast

It would transport bitumen and liquefied natural gas drawn from the tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast, mainly in Texas.

From The Daily Beast

This is not the first time in history when the lack of a ha'porth of tar has spoilt the ship of State.

From Project Gutenberg

We may burn coal and thus change is appearance, but its particles are all there, in the form of gas, ashes or tar.

From Project Gutenberg

Shortly before ten, two tar-barrels were observed burning in a north-easterly direction.

From Project Gutenberg

While Stanley loaded a small carronade, young Welton got up blue lights and an empty tar-barrel.

From Project Gutenberg

In tar-kiln burning only dead wood is used, the green tree yielding less tar and of lower quality.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• besmirch
• blight
• cloud
• corrupt
• damage
• discredit
• harm
• hurt
• infect
• muddy
• poison
• pollute
• smear
• spoil
• stain
• sully
• tarnish