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tar1

Pronunciation: /tɑː/

Translate tar | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of tar

noun

[mass noun]
  • a dark, thick flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, alcohols, and other compounds. It is used in road-making and for coating and preserving timber.
  • a substance resembling tar, formed by burning tobacco or other material: [in combination]:low-tar cigarettes

verb (tars, tarring, tarred)

[with object] (usually as adjective tarred)
  • cover (something) with tar:a newly tarred road

Phrases

beat (or whale) the tar out of

North American informal beat or thrash severely.

tar and feather

smear with tar and then cover with feathers as a punishment: a group of sailors had just stripped, tarred, and feathered a man

tar people with the same brush

consider certain people to have the same faults: they’re all tarred with the same brush, that family

Origin:

Old English teru, teoru, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch teer, German Teer, and perhaps ultimately to tree

tar in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tar in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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