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Showing results for tarn. Search instead for tarns.
Synonyms

tarn

1 American  
[tahrn] / tɑrn /

noun

  1. a small mountain lake or pool, especially one in a cirque.

Tarn 2 American  
[tarn] / tarn /

noun

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

tarn 1 British  
/ tɑːn /

noun

  1. a small mountain lake or pool

"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
Tarn 2 British  
/ 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
tarn Scientific  
/ tärn /

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

Etymology

Origin of tarn

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 ( def. )

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.

An invasive alligator snapping turtle has been pulled from a Cumbrian tarn.

From BBC • Feb. 9, 2024

The tarn sits in a granite basin, ringed by grass and rocks.

From Washington Post • Feb. 14, 2017

After the glacier is gone, the bowl at the bottom of the cirque is often occupied by a lake called a tarn.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Primum, constat nullum habuisse tarn pugnare: quod exsurrexerunt, quia non debuit.

From Slate • Feb. 11, 2013

“The tarn, is it ‘black and lurid’ enough?”

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

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.