Tartar is a hard yellowish substance that forms on your teeth and causes them to decay if it is not removed.
2. countable noun
If you describe someone, especially a woman in a position of authority, as a tartar, you mean that they are fierce, bad-tempered, and strict.
[informal]
She can be quite a tartar.
3. See also cream of tartar
tartar in British English1
(ˈtɑːtə)
noun
1. dentistry
a hard crusty deposit on the teeth, consisting of food, cellular debris, and mineral salts
2. Also called: argol
a brownish-red substance consisting mainly of potassium hydrogen tartrate, present in grape juice and deposited during the fermentation of wine
Word origin
C14: from Medieval Latin tartarum, from Medieval Greek tartaron
tartar in British English2
(ˈtɑːtə)
noun
(sometimes capital)
a fearsome or formidable person
Word origin
C16: special use of Tartar
Tartar in British English
(ˈtɑːtə)
noun, adjective
a variant spelling of Tatar
Tartar in American English
(ˈtɑrtər)
noun
1.
Tatar
2. [usuallyt-]
an irritable, violent, intractable person
adjective
3.
Tatar
Idioms:
catch a tartar
Word origin
ME Tartre < ML Tartarus, a Tatar, altered (after Tartarus) < Pers Tātār
tartar in American English
(ˈtɑrtər)
noun
1.
cream of tartar, esp. the crude form present in grape juice and forming a reddish or whitish, crustlike deposit (argol) in wine casks
2.
a hard deposit on the teeth, consisting of saliva proteins, food deposits, various salts, as calcium phosphate, etc.; dental calculus
Word origin
ME < ML tartarum < MGr tartaron < ?
Examples of 'tartar' in a sentence
tartar
Whatever his origins and status in English life, the young Roderick Armstrong was a tartar.
Colleen McCullough THE THORN BIRDS (1977)
All related terms of 'tartar'
tartar emetic
antimony potassium tartrate , K (SbO)C 4 H 4 O 6 · 1 ⁄ 2 H 2 O, a poisonous , odorless, white salt used in medicine to cause expectoration, vomiting , and perspiration , and in dyeing as a mordant
tartar sauce
Tartar sauce is a thick cold sauce, usually eaten with fish, consisting of chopped onions and capers mixed with mayonnaise .
tartar steak
→ steak tartare
catch a tartar
to attack or oppose someone too strong for one; get more than one bargained for
cream of tartar
Cream of tartar is a white powder used in baking.
steak tartare
raw minced steak , mixed with onion , seasonings , and raw egg
tartare
a mayonnaise sauce mixed with hard-boiled egg yolks , chopped herbs , capers , and gherkins
tartare sauce
a mayonnaise sauce mixed with hard-boiled egg yolks , chopped herbs , capers , and gherkins
antimony potassium tartrate
a colourless odourless poisonous crystalline salt used as a mordant for textiles and leather , as an insecticide , and as an anthelmintic . Formula: K (SbO)C 4 H 4 O 6
tartare steak
raw minced steak , mixed with onion , seasonings , and raw egg