tarn

[ tahrn ]
See synonyms for tarn on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a small mountain lake or pool, especially one in a cirque.

Origin of tarn

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English terne, tarne, from Old Norse tjǫrn “pond, pool.” Tarn was originally restricted to northern English dialects (where the Danes settled) or in written works about northern England. Tarn entered mainstream English in the works of the Lake Poets

Other definitions for Tarn (2 of 2)

Tarn
[ tarn ]

noun
  1. a department in S France. 2,232 sq. mi. (5,780 sq. km). Capital: Albi.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tarn in a sentence

  • Hundreds of tarns and lakes are visible along the plateau-like ridge which extends throughout the length of the island.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • High Alpine tarns are for the most part circular or straight-sided; seldom, like Lago d'Arno, long, serpentine sheets of water.

    Italian Alps | Douglas William Freshfield
  • There was no good a-leaving her to pine away on the beach, so he tarns to and puts her up to auction.

    My Danish Sweetheart., Volume 2 of 3 | William Clark Russell
  • I learn from a correspondent that certain Welsh tarns, which are reputed bottomless, have this inky hue.

  • Hast thou not seen thy father's woody sides reflected in the still mirror of his own tarns?

British Dictionary definitions for tarn (1 of 2)

tarn

/ (tɑːn) /


noun
  1. a small mountain lake or pool

Origin of tarn

1
C14: of Scandinavian origin; related to Old Norse tjörn pool

British Dictionary definitions for Tarn (2 of 2)

Tarn

/ (French tarn) /


noun
  1. a department of S France, in Midi-Pyrénées region. Capital: Albi. Pop: 350 477 (2003 est). Area: 5780 sq km (2254 sq miles)

  2. a river in SW France, rising in the Massif Central and flowing generally west to the Garonne River. Length: 375 km (233 miles)

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

Scientific definitions for tarn

tarn

[ tärn ]


  1. A small mountain lake, especially one formed as a glacier melts, filling a cirque with water.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.