wearing tarry breeches: epithet for a sailor (cf. tarry-breeks n. at tarry, adj. compounds).

Chiefly poetic and literary. Nautical. Now archaic and rare.

in sense 2 or 2b: Of, belonging to, or that is, a mariner or sailor; sea-bred. Now rare.

Of or relating to sailors or the sea; nautical.

= tarpaulin, n. compounds 1b.

Characteristic of a seaman; sailor-like.

Of or belonging to sailors; nautical.