1749. Walpole, Letters, 'To Mann,' ii. 285. A sea-piece . . . in which his own ship in a cloud of cannon was boarding the French Admiral. This . . . has been so ridiculed by the whole tarhood that the romantic part has been forced to be cancelled.
1786. Burns, A Dream. Young royal Tarry Breeks [Prince William Henry, afterwards William IV.].
1790. Dibdin, Sea Songs, 'Tom Bowling.' Thus Death, who kings and tars dispatches, In vain Tom's life has doffed.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. To a landsman these tarpaulins, as they were called, seemed a strange and half savage race. Ibid. xiv. His tars passed their time in rioting among the rabble of Portsmouth.
1855. Kingsley, Westward Ho, xxx. No old tarry-breeks of a sea-dog, like thy dad!
To TAR OUT, verb. phr. (old).—To punish; to serve out. To TAR AND feather=a practice of great antiquity, but rare nowadays: heated tar is poured over a person, who is then covered with feathers.
Tarred with the same brush, phr. (common).—Alike.
Tar-box, subs. phr. (common).—A shepherd: in contempt. Hence the proverbial sayings, 'To lose a sheep (erron. ship) for a ha'-porth OF tar' (Grose); and 'To caper like a fly in a tar-box.'
1672. Ray, Proverbs. Ne'er lose a hog for a halfpenny-worth of tar. A man may spare in an ill time; as some who will rather die than spend ten groats in physic. Some have it, Lose not a sheep, etc. Indeed, tar is more used about sheep than swine. Others say, Lose not a ship, etc.
Tar-brush, subs. phr. (common).—Black blood: in contemptuous reference to colour; a touch of the tar-brush=a dash of the negro.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Blue-skin . . . A person begotten on a black woman by a white man; any one having . . . a lick of the tar-brush.
1899. Hyne, Furth. Adv. Capt Kettle, viii. Snuff-and-butter ladies . . . ignore their own lick of the tar-brush.
Tare-and-tret, subs. phr. (old).—'City bon-ton for—a Rowland for an Oliver, no matter the juxtaposition of the two matters. To give as good as is brought'(Bee).
Tar-fingers, subs. phr. (old).—A petty pilferer: see Pitch-fingers. Hence tarry=thievish.
1822. Galt, Sir Andrew Wylie. The gypsies hae tarry fingers . . . ye need an e'e in your neck to watch them.
Target, subs. (venery). The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
Tarleather, subs.(old).—In quot.=a woman: in contempt.
1551. Still, Gammer Gurton's Needle. Hazlitt, iii. 218. Thou'se pay for all, thou old tarlether.
Tardy, adj. (Winchester College).—Late: e.g. 'I was tardy task'='I was late with my work.'
1803. Gradus ad Cantab., s.v. Tardy. To be noted for coming late into Chapel.
Tarheel, subs. phr. (American).—An inhabitant of S. Carolina. [Tar is one of the chief products of the State.]
Tarnation (and Tarnal), adj. and adv. (American). 'Damnation'; 'eternal'; mild oaths. As adj.=great, very, etc.: e.g. tarnation strange, a tarnal time, etc.
