tarp
Americannoun
acronym
noun
Etymology
Origin of tarp
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; by shortening
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.
A statue of Chavez erected on the Fresno State University campus was covered Wednesday by a black tarp and plastic, Bakersfield Now reported.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
Concerns about the organization first emerged in January 2023 when a community member reported that its chief executive, Tara Stamos, was storing Narcan under a tarp in 100-degree weather, prosecutors said.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
A memorial that has sprung up in front of the bar, loaded with flowers, candles and messages of grief and support, was covered in an igloo-like tarp Thursday to protect it from the heavy snowfall.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
Mr. Wink conjures a land of “trees like skyscrapers, like celestial tent pegs pounded into the earth to hold the black tarp of the sky in place.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025
Listening to the rain plinking against the gravestones, I stared at our tarp roof that was swaying in the strengthening wind.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
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.
