Library / English Dictionary

TARRY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: tarried   

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having the characteristics of pitch or tar

Synonyms:

pitchy; resinous; resiny; tarry

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

adhesive (tending to adhere)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leave slowly and hesitantly

Synonyms:

linger; tarry

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tarry" is one way to...):

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

tarriance (the act of tarrying)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be about

Example:

Who is this man that is hanging around the department?

Synonyms:

footle; hang around; lallygag; linger; loaf; loiter; lollygag; lounge; lurk; mess about; mill about; mill around; tarry

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "tarry" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tarry"):

lurch; prowl (loiter about, with no apparent aim)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

“You will have to change that grand coat for a tarry jacket if you serve under me, sir.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Lingerer!" he said, "my brain is on fire with impatience, and you tarry so long!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Signs of bleeding in the lower digestive tract include: • Black or tarry stool • Dark blood mixed with stool • Stool mixed or coated with bright red blood

(Gastrointestinal Bleeding, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Then the other answered, as if very unwillingly, A little space I may allow thee to sit here, if thou wilt reward me well and entreat me kindly; but thou must tarry yet an hour below, till I have learnt some little matters that are yet unknown to me.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow—a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Knight and squire gazed from rogue to avenger, but as it was a matter which none could mend they tarried no longer, but rode upon their way.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I could not have been more delighted.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Tarry a bit! tarry a bit, mon gar.!” quoth Aylward, and turning round the shield he showed a round clear hole in the wood at the back of it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was clothed with tatters of old ship's canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchwork was all held together by a system of the most various and incongruous fastenings, brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I would fain that you should tarry at our court, for a time at least, until your hurt is healed and your horses rested.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)