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 is betting that beef tallow and grass-fed beef will draw diners and lift sales.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
As for smell, a common concern among skeptics, I only found the bison tallow scent noticeably strong.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The enriched flour, high-fructose corn syrup, and tallow that help make up the American classic give each small sponge cake about 65 days to be consumed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
As I ended my visit, the strong smell of tallow drifted from massive smokers across the street at Heritage Barbecue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
A stub of tallow burned in front of it.
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
I applied beef and bison tallows from three companies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
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
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 George Manville Fenn
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
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 Catharine Esther Beecher
"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
Never did a Jersey "jay" in Sunday clothes and tallowed boots respond to a bunco steerer's greeting with a gladder smile than mine to that pious old past-master of craft.
From The Deluge by David Graham Phillips
"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
When a whaling ship is beset in the ice of Davis Straits, there is little work for her second engineer, once the engines have been nicely tallowed down.
From The Literary World Seventh Reader by John Calvin Metcalf
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 James Anthony Froude
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
