tarpaper

American  

[tahr-pey-per] / ˈtɑrˌpeɪ pər /

noun

1. a heavy, tar-coated paper used as a waterproofing material in building construction.

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Etymology

Origin of tarpaper

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; tar ¹ + paper

Example Sentences

They combine flimsy-looking tarpaper with oversized driftwood because that is what is to hand.

From The Guardian • Jul. 28, 2018

As a child, Mr. Mancini, 56, lived in a tarpaper shack in No Cash, a nearby station for the mine’s tramline, before his family moved to Keno.

From New York Times • Oct. 15, 2017

I have been writing replies to her students ever since, most recently to Minami Funakoshi, whose question had to do with my book “The Pine Barrens” and a couple of people in a tarpaper shanty.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 14, 2015

In the Sinclair version, Heroine Pamela Andrews is a prim, pretty, barefoot goat-girl, a devout Seventh Day Adventist who lives with her mother in a tarpaper shack in the California desert.

From Time Magazine Archive

Billy moved along the screen and reached a point where he could see a message freshly painted on the tarpaper wall.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut