Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense tars, present participle tarring, past tense, past participle tarred
1. uncountable noun
Tar is a thick black sticky substance that is used especially for making roads.
The oil has hardened to tar.
They drove across the river to New Hampshire on a hot tar road.
2. uncountable noun
Tar is one of the poisonous substances contained in tobacco.
3.
See tarred with the same brush
4. See also tarred
tar in British English1
(tɑː)
noun
1.
any of various dark viscid substances obtained by the destructive distillation of organic matter such as coal, wood, or peat
2. another name for coal tar
verbWord forms: tars, tarring or tarred(transitive)
3.
to coat with tar
4. tar and feather
5. tarred with the same brush
Derived forms
tarry (ˈtarry)
adjective
tarriness (ˈtarriness)
noun
Word origin
Old English teoru; related to Old Frisian tera, Old Norse tjara, Middle Low German tere tar, Gothic triu tree
tar in British English2
(tɑː)
noun
an informal word for seaman
Word origin
C17: short for tarpaulin
tar in American English1
(tɑr)
noun
1.
a thick, sticky, brown to black liquid with a pungent odor, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood, coal, peat, shale, etc.: tars are composed of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, and are used for protecting and preserving surfaces, in making various organic compounds, etc.
2. Loosely
any of the solids in smoke, as from tobacco
verb transitiveWord forms: tarred or ˈtarring
3.
to cover or smear with or as with tar
adjective
4.
of or like tar
5.
covered with tar; tarred
Idioms:
tar and feather
tarred with the same brush
Word origin
ME terre < OE teru < PGmc *terw(i)a-, substance from trees < IE base *deru-, tree
tar in American English2
(tɑr)
noun
Informal
a sailor
Word origin
< tarpaulin
More idioms containing
tar
tar someone with the same brush
Examples of 'tar' in a sentence
tar
There is the smell of very hot copper and tar.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Sometimes it feels like my childhood world was made entirely of coal tar.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The oil companies argue that tar sands will help to bridge the coming energy gap.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
People dress up and run around with burning tar barrels.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
He should count himself lucky not to have been tarred and feathered.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The new tarred road brings speeding cars and road deaths.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He avoided the sticky issues as though he were stepping around puddles of hot tar.
Christianity Today (2000)
Coal tar fills your lungs and your head.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Give the pavilion a sniff - it smells of tar and wood.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
What next - shall we tar and feather her?
The Sun (2013)
Its tar sands are known to hold 176 billion barrels.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
With the windows down you could smell the tar on the road 's surface melting in the heat.
The Times Literary Supplement (2013)
Powerful interests inside and outside Canada are determined to find a sustainable method of producing oil from the tar sands.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
A barrel of tar had burst open on a road in Derbyshire.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Vitamin E is often manufactured from petrol and coal tar.
The Sun (2015)
Try this Chilean young to enjoy rich, plummy fruit jostling with a dash of coal tar.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
You can't do a tar barrel at an office party in central London so you become a banana instead.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
I watched them work, taking pleasure in the patterns of light and colour, the perfume of wood and tar.
Ben Nimmo IN FORKBEARD'S WAKE: Coasting Round Scandinavia (2003)
In other languages
tar
British English: tar NOUN
Tar is a thick black sticky substance that is used especially for making roads.
The oil has hardened to tar.
American English: tar
Brazilian Portuguese: piche
Chinese: 沥青
European Spanish: alquitrán
French: goudron
German: Teer
Italian: catrame
Japanese: タール
Korean: 타르
European Portuguese: piche
Latin American Spanish: alquitrán
All related terms of 'tar'
low-tar
(of cigarettes ) containing less tar than average or usual
coal tar
Coal tar is a thick black liquid made from coal which is used for making drugs and chemical products .
Jack Tar
a sailor
pine tar
a brown or black semisolid or viscous substance, produced by the destructive distillation of pine wood, used in roofing compositions , paints , medicines , etc
tar baby
a troublesome situation that is made worse by attempts to extricate oneself from it
tar paper
a heavy paper impregnated with tar , used as a base for roofing , etc.
tar sand
a sandstone in which hydrocarbons have been trapped ; the lighter compounds evaporate , leaving a residue of asphalt in the rock pores
any tar produced by the destructive distillation of wood: used in producing tarred cord and rope and formerly in medicine as disinfectants and antiseptics
mineral tar
a natural black viscous tar intermediate in properties between petroleum and asphalt
coal-tar pitch
a residue left by the distillation of coal tar : a mixture of hydrocarbons and finely divided carbon used as a binder for fuel briquettes , road surfaces, and carbon electrodes
coal-tar creosote
a colourless or pale yellow liquid mixture with a burning taste and penetrating odour distilled from wood tar , esp from beechwood , contains creosol and other phenols , and is used as an antiseptic
tar and feather
to punish by smearing tar and feathers over (someone)
tar someone with the same brush
to assume that someone behaves as badly as other people in a particular group