tallow

American  

[tal-oh] / ˈtæl oʊ /

noun

1. the fatty tissue or suet of animals.

2. the harder fat of sheep, cattle, etc., separated by melting from the fibrous and membranous matter naturally mixed with it, and used to make candles, soap, etc.

3. any of various similar fatty substances.

   vegetable tallow.

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verb (used with object)

tallows, present (3rd person singular) tallowed, past participle, past tallowing present participle

1. to smear with tallow.

tallow British  

/ ˈtæləʊ /

noun

1. a fatty substance consisting of a mixture of glycerides, including stearic, palmitic, and oleic acids and extracted chiefly from the suet of sheep and cattle: used for making soap, candles, food, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to cover or smear with tallow

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tallowy
  adjective
• untallowed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• tallowing
  present
• tallowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• tallow
  simple
• tallows
  simple
• have tallowed
  perfect
• has tallowed
  perfect
• am tallowing
  progressive
• are tallowing
  progressive
• is tallowing
  progressive
• have been tallowing
  perfect progressive
• has been tallowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• tallowed
  simple
• had tallowed
  perfect
• was tallowing
  progressive
• were tallowing
  progressive
• had been tallowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will tallow
  simple
• will have tallowed
  perfect
• will be tallowing
  progressive
• will have been tallowing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of tallow

1300–50; Middle English talow, talgh; cognate with German Talg

Explanation

In the old days, candles were mostly made from tallow, a form of animal fat that provided an inexpensive way for people to light their homes at night. Tallow is rendered animal fat, most often from beef or mutton. It's similar to suet or lard, other forms of animal fat, and has been useful in various ways through the years because it doesn't go bad at room temperature, stays solid, and is cheap. Today it's most commonly used for soap making or animal feed, though it can also be used in making biodiesel fuel.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tallow tallows tallowed tallowing

The Make America Healthy Again movement, for which Kennedy is the de facto leader, promotes a diet heavy in meat and animal products, such as butter, beef tallow and raw milk.

From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026

“Give me beef tallow and six raw eggs, too.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2026

Full-fat dairy is encouraged, while butter and beef tallow are viewed as acceptable.

From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026

The secretary, who has said he follows a carnivore diet, has lauded food companies that use beef tallow, the melted-down fatty tissue of cattle carcasses, instead of seed oils.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025

I could see a tallow light at Mallons’ house, but none in Anna’s window.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

There’s floors upon floors beneath, stored with jute and dye-woods, teas, coffees, spices, tobaccos, and lowest of all on the ground floor and in the cellarage, tallows in great hogsheads.

From Adventures of Working Men From the Notebook of a Working Surgeon by Fenn, George Manville

The oil and tallows which are chiefly carbon and hydrogen, unite with the oxygen of the air and form carbonic acid and watery vapor, producing heat during the process.

From American Woman's Home by Beecher, Catharine Esther

Most of the Australasian tallows are of very uniform quality and much in demand.

From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by Simmons, W. H.

North American tallows are, as a general rule, much paler in colour than those of South America, but do not compare with them in consistence.

From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by Simmons, W. H.

Milling-base.—The materials generally used are tallows and cocoa-nut oils of the finest quality.

From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by Simmons, W. H.

"I've never tried to make my figures come out this way," he explained last week, pointing to a tall figure reminiscent of a grotesquely tallowed candle.

From Time Magazine Archive

"It is a plant," says the Grete Herball, "whereof is made a manner of lynke if it be tallowed."

From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by Fernie, William Thomas

Besides, he had on his new Prince Albert, and there was a suspicion of a formal call in the smoothly oiled hair and tallowed boots.

From The Soldier of the Valley by Lloyd, Nelson

When that was done, we heeled her, scrubbed her Bottom, and tallowed it.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898—Volume 39 of 55 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of The Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century, Volume XXXIX: 1683-1690 by Blair, Emma Helen

The ships were laid on shore and scraped and tallowed.

From English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century Lectures Delivered at Oxford Easter Terms 1893-4 by Froude, James Anthony

While the ships, however, were on the keel, and the men busy heaving, scrubbing, and tallowing, they were attacked by a large body of the natives.

From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume III (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Thornbury, Walter