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
But we could not tarry long there out in the open.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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, Gephardt or any other potential candidate tarries even past Thursday, he would also be shut out of the important May 5 primary in Ohio.
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
“That’s a nice enough little tarrier as Sir Grantley Wilters brought, and she won’t have none of it, but leaves it to her ladyship.”
From Lady Maude's Mania by Fenn, George Manville
I mean sum time tew hav a rat tarrier, and then I suppoze, to enjoy myself, I shall have tew git sum rats.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
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.
Where wings to rustle use, But this poor tarrier - Searching my spirit's eaves - Find I for carrier.
From Poems by Thompson, Francis
Jud Bates and "th' best tarrier i' Riggan" were among the most faithful attendants.
From That Lass O' Lowrie's 1877 by Burnett, Frances Hodgson
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 Maclaren, Alexander
O Brettinoro! wherefore tarriest still, Since forth of thee thy family hath gone, And many, hating evil, join'd their steps?
From The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Purgatory, Volume 3 by Cary, Henry Francis
Answered I, 'My name is Duck, and I am of the bird kind;' and I added, 'But thou, why tarriest thou in this place till this time?'
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 03 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Those first words 'why tarriest thou' explain the other part.
From Dorothy Page by Hatcher, Eldridge B.
Come forth, son Jacob, why tarriest thou behind?
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by Hazlitt, William Carew
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
Where others might be afraid, or prohibited, to go he traveled and tarried and reported back.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2020
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
Standing at either end of the long, handsome bronze coffin were two big, dark policemen, mostly looking straight ahead, but moving their lips when some viewer tarried.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
