tarry
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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tarries,
present (3rd person singular)
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tarried,
past participle, past
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tarrying
present participle
verb (used with object)
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tarries,
present (3rd person singular)
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tarried,
past participle, past
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tarrying
present participle
noun
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tarries
plural
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
But thick mats of tarry petroleum asphalt cover portions of sandbars, oil-speckled rocks and bushes line the shore and the wreckage of a tank car juts from the middle of the river.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
The tarry oil, which someone had bought from her village witch, fumed in black clouds.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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
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
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
“Yes,” said Sister McCandless, “that sure is a praying man. I tell you, it ain’t every shepherd tarries before the Lord for his flock like Father James does.”
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
I am out 2 vases, a quart of nu milk, and one tarrier.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Henry W. Shaw
There was some friction when George first coom on leave an' Mr. Gedge let 'im have th' tarrier for a day's ratting.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, June 16, 1920 by Various
He's th' best tarrier for owt as tha ivver seed.
From That Lass O' Lowrie's 1877 by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Jud Bates and "th' best tarrier i' Riggan" were among the most faithful attendants.
From That Lass O' Lowrie's 1877 by Frances Hodgson Burnett
If Adam kept a tarrier, or Eve a poodle, the laps of ages hav washed away the fakt.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Henry W. Shaw
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 Henrietta Szold
Why tarriest thou to plunge thee in the gulph Of the deep inner gloom, but flittest here, In twilight, on the lonely verge of Hell, Far from the other ghosts, and Hela's throne?
From Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold by Matthew Arnold
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'—ACTS xxii. 6-16.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture: the Acts by Alexander Maclaren
Come forth, son Jacob, why tarriest thou behind?
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by William Carew Hazlitt
Wing thy flight from hence on the morrow, for if thou tarriest with the bats, owls, vultures and ravens, which have thought to nestle here, thou wilt inevitably share their fate.
From Woodstock; or, the Cavalier by Sir Walter Scott
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
It tarried, however: days and weeks passed: I had regained my normal state of health, but no new allusion was made to the subject over which I brooded.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
Sor Asunci6n said, as if she had asked a question and I was tarrying in my answer.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
