tar

¹ American  

[tahr] / tɑr /

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, tarring

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.

idioms

1. beat / knock / whale the tar out of, 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.

tar ² American  

[tahr] / tɑr /

noun

Informal: Older Use.

1. a sailor.

   Synonyms:

   gob, seafarer

---

tar ¹ British  

/ tɑː /

noun

1. an informal word for seaman

---

tar ² British  

/ tɑː /

noun

1. any of various dark viscid substances obtained by the destructive distillation of organic matter such as coal, wood, or peat

2. another name for coal tar

---

verb

1. to coat with tar

2. to punish by smearing tar and feathers over (someone)

3. regarded as having the same faults

tar Scientific  

/ 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.

---

tar More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing tar

• beat the living daylights (tar) out of

---

Related Words

See sailor.

Other Word Forms

• nontarred adjective
• tarriness noun
• tarry adjective
• untarred adjective

Etymology

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

Explanation

Tar is a very thick liquid that's used to cover road surfaces. You can't walk on fresh, hot tar—you have to wait until it's completely dry. Besides coating streets and parking lots, tar is also used to waterproof things like roofing shingles and wooden boats. Because it has disinfecting properties, you can sometimes find tar in soap, medicinal shampoos, and even as flavoring in candy and alcohol. When you tar something, you spread tar on it. Long ago, to tar and feather someone was to apply painfully hot, burning tar and feathers to their skin, as a brutal kind of vigilante punishment.

Example Sentences

Pike perch tartare from Lake Oulujärvi rests on malt bread with capers and dill oil and a whisper of pine tar.

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026

Although researchers cannot determine exactly who left it, they believe it may have been pressed into the tar during a repair by a crew member.

From Science Daily • Feb. 16, 2026

“This is a global location. People around the world come to see the tar pits.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

He will be battling a Frankenstein-like rival mammoth built by scientists from a jumble of various mammoth bones also plucked from the tar pits.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

They walked out on the pier, the rough boards dark with tar and fastened down with spikes to the timbers underneath.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Related Words

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