tar

Meanings

Noun

• A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.
• Coal tar.
• A solid residual byproduct of tobacco smoke.
• A sailor, because of the traditional tarpaulin clothes.
• Black tar, a form of heroin.
• A program for archiving files, common on Unix systems.
• A file produced by such a program.
• A Persian long-necked, waisted instrument, shared by many cultures and countries in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
• A single-headed round frame drum originating in North Africa and the Middle East.

Verb

• To coat with tar.
• To besmirch.
• To create a tar archive.

Related

Opposite words

• untar

Origin

• From Middle English ter, terr, tarr, from Old English teoru, from Proto-West Germanic *teru, from Proto-Germanic *terwą (compare Saterland Frisian Taar, West Frisian tarre, tar, Dutch teer, German Teer), from Proto-Indo-European *derwo- (compare Welsh derw ("oaks"), Lithuanian dervà ("pinewood, resin"), Russian де́рево ("tree"), Bulgarian дърво́ ("tree")), from *dóru. More at tree.
• Abbreviation of tape archive.
• From Persian تار.
• Image:Safavid-style portrait, female musician plays a tar.jpg|thumb|150px
• From Arabic طار.