tar·pau·lin

(tär-pô′lĭn, tär′pə-)

1. Material, such as waterproofed canvas, used to cover and protect things from moisture.

2. A sheet of this material.

[Probably alteration of tar + pall + -ing.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tarpaulin

(tɑːˈpɔːlɪn)

1. (Textiles) a heavy hard-wearing waterproof fabric made of canvas or similar material coated with tar, wax, or paint, for outdoor use as a protective covering against moisture

2. (Textiles) a sheet of this fabric

3. (Clothing & Fashion) a hat of or covered with this fabric, esp a sailor's hat

4. (Nautical Terms) a rare word for seaman

[C17: probably from tar¹ + pall¹ + -ing¹]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tar•pau•lin

(tɑrˈpɔ lɪn, ˈtɑr pə lɪn)

n.

1. a sheet of waterproofed canvas or other material used as a protective covering for objects exposed to the weather.

2. a sailor.

[1595–1605; earlier tarpauling]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

tarpaulin - waterproofed canvas

tarp

canvas, canvass - a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)

Translations

تَرْبولين: قِماش مع قُطران سَدود للماءمُشَمَّع

celtovinanepromokavá plachta

imprægneret presenningpresenningsstof

Persenning Plane

μουσαμάς

lona

merimiesöljykankainen suojapeite

bâche

cerada

vízhatlan ponyva

segldúkur

tela cerata telone impermeabile

タール塗り防水布

방수 시트

brezentas

brezents

bâchegeteerd zeildoek matroos

presenning

brezent

lona impermeabilizada oleado

брезент

nepremokavá plachta

presenning

ผ้าใบอาบน้ำมันใช้ทำผ้าคลุมกันฝน

muşamba tente

vải dầu

防水油布

tarpaulin

[tɑːˈpɔːlɪn] N → lona f alquitranada

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tarpaulin

[tɑː^rˈpɔːlɪn] n → bâche f goudronnée

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tarpaulin

(= waterproof sheet) → Plane f; (Naut) → Persenning f

tarpaulins pl (= clothes) → Ölzeug nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tarpaulin

[tɑːˈpɔːlɪn] n (waterproof cover) → (tela) incerata

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

tarpaulin

(taːˈpoːlin) noun

(a sheet of) a kind of strong waterproof material. He covered his car with a (sheet of) tarpaulin.

tarpaulin

→ مُشَمَّع celtovina presenningsstof Plane μουσαμάς lona öljykankainen suojapeite bâche cerada telone impermeabile タール塗り防水布 방수 시트 geteerd zeildoek presenning brezent lona impermeabilizada, oleado брезент presenning ผ้าใบอาบน้ำมันใช้ทำผ้าคลุมกันฝน tente vải dầu 防水油布

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The gentlemanly man, with feeble and deprecatory gestures, and in the manner of a hypnotised person, produced an excellent large tarpaulin.

View in context

I covered her with oilskins and a tarpaulin. She was comparatively dry, but she was numb with the cold.

View in context

When he entered I observed that he carried no umbrella, and certainly had not come in his carriage, for his tarpaulin hat ran down with melting sleet, and his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with the weight of the water it had absorbed.

View in context

The stave was still there, and on it Starkey had hung his hat, a deep tarpaulin, watertight, with a broad brim.

View in context

From a cache behind a hollow rotting log my companion brought out a variety of things,--a fifty-pound sack of flour, tinned foods of all sorts, cooking utensils, blankets, a canvas tarpaulin, books and writing material, a great bundle of letters, a five-gallon can of kerosene, an oil stove, and, last and most important, a large coil of stout rope.

View in context

Matt was rolling the master's blankets and fur robe inside a small tarpaulin. White Fang whined as he watched the operation.

View in context

On Billy's back, inside a painted canvas tarpaulin, was slung the roll of bedding.

View in context

The shattered wreck of the lifeboat they had held lay on the fiddley beside the smashed engine-room skylight, which was covered by a tarpaulin. Below, to star-board, on the bridge deck, the pilot saw the crushed mess-room door, roughly bulkheaded against the pounding seas.

View in context

It was protected from the weather by an ingenious little tarpaulin contrivance in the nature of an umbrella.

View in context

By degrees he rose to the rank of a chief, espoused one of the beauties of the island, and became habituated and reconciled to his new way of life; thinking it better, perhaps, to rule among savages than serve among white men; to be a feathered chief than a tarpaulin boatswain.

View in context

The second officer sewed me up next day with a needle he'd made out of an ivory toothpick and with twine he twisted out of the threads from a frayed tarpaulin."

View in context

Close to the road, on their left, was a roofless house, and a family of children crying underneath a tarpaulin shelter.

View in context