tannery

American

[tan-uh-ree] / ˈtæn ə ri /

noun

a place where tanning is carried on.

tannery British

/ ˈtænərɪ /

noun

a place or building where skins and hides are tanned

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

tanneries

plural

Etymology

Origin of tannery

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at tan ¹, -ery

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.

Carlson’s adoptive father, a tannery manager, died when he was 12.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2025

A: My family owned a tannery in Turkey, so I was born into the business.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 6, 2024

The Cantonese migrants worked in carpentry and the ship-fitting industry, while the Hakka Chinese worked in the tannery and food business.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2023

Just because you owned a tannery, did not mean you got to dump lye into the stream a mile from your neighbor.

From Slate • Nov. 10, 2021

I pretend I don’t even know his name — and every day I walk past the tannery, just so he can see me not looking his way.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023