tarp
noun
tarp
American
[tahrp]
/ tɑrp /
noun
tarps
plural
TARP
1
British
/ tɑːp /
acronym
tarp
2
British
/ tɑːp /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tarp
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; by shortening
Explanation
A tarp is a piece of cloth that's usually waterproof canvas. When you're camping, it's a good idea to put a tarp on the damp ground before you set up your tent. Since 1906, the word tarp has been a common shorthand for tarpaulin. Today tarps are just as likely to be made from vinyl or polyethylene, but they were once uniformly heavy canvas that had been treated with tar to make it water resistant. Tarps are used for yard work, to cover furniture while a room is being painted, or to cover the bed of a truck, among many other uses.
Vocabulary lists containing tarp
Pride
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My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
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Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World
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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:
Chip has spread the blue tarp across a narrow hellstrip beside four lanes of traffic.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Video and images broadcast on state television showed Silva standing under a makeshift tarp and guarded by Venezuelan soldiers as he addressed a group of miners on new mining policies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
By dawn, the name was gone, but the tarp remained.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
Photographs of the scene show cordons in place, with emergency workers hanging sheets of tarp around part of the mall.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
“Quiet, girl,” I warned, covering her with the tarp.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
Congress did pass legislation, TARP, with two components.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2023
In the most dramatic floor vote in decades, the House of Representatives defeated the initial version of TARP.
From Fox News ● Aug. 9, 2020
“Frankly, Elizabeth Warren, who’s had experience with this, with the TARP, helped us, had many suggestions we incorporated into making the accountability provisions,” Schumer said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 27, 2020
Kashkari received mixed reviews from his six-month stint as the first administrator of TARP, the controversial program that ended up turning a modest profit for the federal government.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2015
In some ways, the dynamic of the Syria measure has components similar to the 2008 bank bailout bill, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.
From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2013
An equipment box labeled “Garden Party”! Mysterious shapes covered in black-plastic tarps!
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026
To create a movement, though, Pratt does not need to know what causes seas of tarps and tents.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
Millions of people have fled the fighting and are living cheek-by-jowl in displacement camps, under tarps and tents and with poor hygiene conditions.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Vendors there were hawking shoes, used power tools and watches under tattered blue tarps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
There, at the base, was a squat, round structure, piled with layers of old blankets and tarps.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
