tarpaulin

UK/tɑˈpɔː.lɪn/US/ˈtɑːɹpəlɪn/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,045 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: tarpaulins

A tarpaulin is a big waterproof sheet thrown over whatever must stay dry. Eyelets round the edge and rope through them.

Building sites, boats and market stalls all depend on them. The name comes from tar and palling, since the original ones were canvas treated with tar, and modern ones are plastic. British English shortens it to tarp, which was once an Australian and American habit and is now general. Blue is the standard colour for no better reason than cost.

Definitions of tarpaulin

1nountarpaulinA large waterproof sheet used as a cover.B2+
“They pulled a tarpaulin over the woodpile.”

Where it comes from

A tarpaulin is tarred canvas: tar plus pall, a heavy cloth. Because sailors wore garments made of it for weatherproofing, tarpaulin became a name for a sailor as well.

Proto-Indo-European
*dóru
Middle English
ter
English
tar
English, today
tarpaulin

Built from

*dóru · Proto-Indo-European — tree

From tar + pall + -ing. From tar + pall (“heavy canvas”) + -ing. The sailor sense reflects that sailors of centuries past often wore garments made of tarred cloth (for weatherproofing). tar comes from Middle English ter. From Middle English ter, terr, tarr, from Old English teoru, from Proto-West Germanic teru, from Proto-Germanic terwą, from Proto-Indo-European derwo-, from dóru (“tree”). See also stq Taar, West Frisian tarre, tar, Dutch teer, German Teer; also Welsh derw (“oaks”), Lithuanian dervà (“pinewood, resin”), Russian де́рево (“tree”), Bulgarian дърво́ (“tree”). More at tree.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Tools & DIY

First appears in chapter 32 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

tarpaulin in the wild

In a further concession to comfort, a tarpaulin shelter often covers the bow.
Coble
Before retiring from baseball, he started his own company that began making tarpaulins to cover baseball diamonds during rain.
Howard Ehmke
In 2006, the top-tier seating of Mount Davis was covered by tarpaulin during almost all Oakland Athletics baseball games, and the Oakland Raiders followed suit in 2013.
Mount Davis (Oakland)
The Centre Court was protected by a tarpaulin cover for the first time.
1907 Wimbledon Championships
The dome is then covered using any tarpaulin available.
Bender tent

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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