tarry
1 Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
adjective
verb
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(intr) to delay in coming or going; linger
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(intr) to remain temporarily or briefly
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(intr) to wait or stay
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archaic (tr) to await
noun
Synonym Usage
See wait.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tarrysimple
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tarriessimple
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have tarriedperfect
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has tarriedperfect
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am tarryingprogressive
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are tarryingprogressive
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is tarryingprogressive
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have been tarryingperfect progressive
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has been tarryingperfect progressive
Past
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tarriedsimple
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had tarriedperfect
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was tarryingprogressive
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were tarryingprogressive
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had been tarryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tarry1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English taryen “to delay,” tary “a delay”; origin unknown
Origin of tarry2
Explanation
To tarry is to linger and take your time leaving. If you really like going to Sally’s Diner for dessert, you might tarry over coffee and end up leaving after they’ve closed the kitchen. The verb tarry is perfect for describing what happens when those relatives that you see once a year come to your house for lunch and never seem to leave. When people tarry they stick around and take a long time to depart, sometimes lurking or loitering, or sometimes enjoying each other's company. Tarry can also mean to hang around a place without purpose. You might tarry in the park until the day is fading and you have to go home.
Vocabulary lists containing tarry
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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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:
Bright red stool, dark or tarry stool, or mucus in the stool can be associated with bleeding somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, colon, or rectum.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Brands never lets his subject tarry long enough to freeze into marmoreal stillness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
In the western province of Alberta, where many ferocious wildfires burned, huge deposits of thick crude oil, mixed with tarry sand, sit beneath the forest and near the snaking Athabasca River.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
Thick mats of tarry petroleum asphalt cover portions of sandbars.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
I bid him tarry a time & take his Supper but he would not, I could not detain him longer.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
In one clever bit of staging, Hamlet tarries in the forefront as the king and queen canoodle in back and guards race by mid-stage between them, fresh from sighting the former king’s ghost.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2022
Mansionization foes, meanwhile, complained that out-of-scale homes have continued to be erected as the city tarries on citywide fixes, necessitating more immediate measures to protect neighborhoods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2015
He tarries awhile in this hovel of Muscovite anguish to bring light into the souls of the people, and by token of a dusted window, into the room, the main scene of sorrow.
From Time Magazine Archive
If he wanders too far or tarries too long beyond the state's borders, he had better look back and ask, "What's Thelma up to now?"
From Time Magazine Archive
She tarries a moment longer, then peels off, and speeding like a falling star, shoots off into a cloud and is gone.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Mi wife iz one ov them kind ov wimmin that don’t make enny statements unless they are true, so yu needn’t send me enny more tarrier.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
He's th' best tarrier for owt as tha ivver seed.
From That Lass O' Lowrie's 1877 by Burnett, Frances Hodgson
When doggy men beyond ocean talk about a terrier, they usually pronounce it tarrier, and not terrier, as we mostly call him on this bank of the Atlantic.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 25, November, 1859 by Various
Every branch, every flower, became a hand of the sun's clock for the impatient tarrier, while its seconds and minutes moved haltingly forward.
From Withered Leaves. Vol. I. (of III) A Novel by Gottschall, Rudolf von
He resembles the rat tarrier in countenance, and skratches hiz hed, az natral az a distrikt skool boy, and undoubtedly for the same reason.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
He went up the path, and stood before the door waiting, when a high thin voice, like an evening wind, called from within, "Come in and fear not, thou that tarriest on the threshold."
From Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories Reprinted from The Hill of Trouble and The Isles of Sunset by Benson, Arthur Christopher
Thy father-in-law's countenance is not toward thee as beforetime, and yet thou tarriest with him?
From The Legends of the Jews — Volume 1 by Szold, Henrietta
Peace, who tarriest too long; Peace, with delight in thy train; Come, come back to our prayer!
From Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold by Arnold, Matthew
Come forth, son Jacob, why tarriest thou behind?
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by Hazlitt, William Carew
Come to my lodge, perchance thou art hungry; the fire has been kindled, the water is boiling, a welcome awaits thee, why tarriest longer?
From Indian Legends of Vancouver Island by Semeyn, J.
This time, we deliberately tarried for the scores of curious locals and drivers who wanted to know about our bike, our route, our motivation and “Are you still talking?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
However, ocean-faring ships tarried in San Pedro Bay as crews struggled to keep up with the pace.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2022
But while the shah tarried in Egypt and Morocco, an Iranian mob briefly seized the American Embassy in February.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2019
After the reporters’ questions dwindled, he tarried in the hallway, leaning against a column, signing autographs on visitors’ entry cards like a Broadway star, patiently enjoying it.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2019
Here now for seven days they tarried, for the time was at hand for another parting which they were loth to make.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
I see the final visitors depart, many tarrying until the last second.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025
My mind went back to midnight prayers and long, hot, sweaty tarrying services.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2021
The challenge for Churchill residents is to encourage the bears to head to the tundra without tarrying in town.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 13, 2019
The Rev. Everly Thomas is the only spirit who is aware of where and why everyone is stuck, and he has his own reasons for tarrying.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2017
At the end of the corridor near the elevators, a little storelike affair had been set up; it sold prints and art books, and Luba halted there, tarrying.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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.
