tallow
Americannoun
-
the fatty tissue or suet of animals.
-
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.
-
any of various similar fatty substances.
vegetable tallow.
verb (used with object)
-
tallows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tallowed,
past participle, past
-
tallowing
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tallowsimple
-
tallowssimple
-
have tallowedperfect
-
has tallowedperfect
-
am tallowingprogressive
-
are tallowingprogressive
-
is tallowingprogressive
-
have been tallowingperfect progressive
-
has been tallowingperfect progressive
Past
-
tallowedsimple
-
had tallowedperfect
-
was tallowingprogressive
-
were tallowingprogressive
-
had been tallowingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing tallow
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Old Yeller
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Steak ’n Shake doesn’t make health claims about grass-fed beef or tallow, but the company believes its customers feel better about the chain’s food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
He now has to change the beef tallow in his fryer each week instead of every 10 to 14 days with vegetable oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Dr. Heather Rogers, a dermatologist in Seattle and founder of the Doctor Rogers skincare line, told me that there are few modern scientific studies examining beef tallow as a skincare ingredient.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
All the same, the fatty acid profile of tallow does overlap with some lipids found in human skin and sebum, including palmitic, stearic and oleic acids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The fat tallow candles on the tables gave off more smoke than light, and the wine that Davos ordered looked more brown than red in the gloom.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
I applied beef and bison tallows from three companies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The viscosity will vary from light spindle or dynamo oils, which have but little more body than kerosene, to the heaviest greases and tallows.
From Aviation Engines Design?Construction?Operation and Repair by Victor Wilfred Pag?
Milling-base.—The materials generally used are tallows and cocoa-nut oils of the finest quality.
From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by W. H. Simmons
Although the warp yarn is made very soft and pliable by boiling and beetling, the weaver always tallows it in order to make it work more easily.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
It often happens, especially with the tallows, that a dark colored sample produces a light colored soap, whereas a bleached light colored tallow produces a soap off shade.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
"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
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 Nelson Lloyd
"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 William Thomas Fernie
The hunters had killed and salted an incredible quantity of beef and pork, the ships were scraped and tallowed, and nothing more was to be done save to divide the victuals among all the buccaneers.
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by John Masefield
Nothing now held the ship but a single iron dog which bound the two tallowed surfaces together.
From The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington) O'Brien
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 Walter Thornbury
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
