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tartan love

tartan

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A vessel used in the Mediterranean for commercial and other purposes.
  • noun A woolen or worsted cloth woven with lines or stripes of different colors crossing each other at right angles so as to form a definite pattern.
  • noun The design or “set”of the colors in the cloth known as tartan. See set, n., 14.
  • noun The check peculiar to this cloth. Also shepherd's plaid.
  • Variegated with the cross-barred bands and stripes of color characteristic of the Scottish tartans, or with patterns of a similar kind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Woolen cloth, checkered or crossbarred with narrow bands of various colors, much worn in the Highlands of Scotland; hence, any pattern of tartan; also, other material of a similar pattern.
  • noun (Naut.) A small coasting vessel, used in the Mediterranean, having one mast carrying large leteen sail, and a bowsprit with staysail or jib.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A type of one-masted vessel used in the Mediterranean.
  • noun A kind of woven woollen cloth with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles, associated with Scottish Highlanders, different clans having their own distinctive patterns.
  • noun The pattern associated with such material.
  • noun An individual or a group wearing tartan; a Highlander or Scotsman in general.
  • noun Trade name of a synthetic resin, used for surfacing tracks etc.
  • adjective Having a pattern like a tartan.
  • adjective humorous Scottish.
  • verb transitive To clothe in tartan.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cloth having a crisscross design

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French tartane, from Italian tartana, of unceertain origin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of Middle English tartaryn ("rich material"), from Middle French tartarin ("Tartar cloth"), and Middle French tiretaine ("cloth of mixed fibers"), from Old French tiret ("kind of cloth"), from tire ("oriental cloth of silk"), from Medieval Latin tyrius ("material from Tyre"), from Latin Tyrus ("Tyre").

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Examples

  • He spent many an hour playing WoW, dressed in tartan flannel.

    In The Run-Up « Tales from the Reading Room 2008

  • And they're available in tartan, paisley and geometric patterns in a variety of colours.

    Loincloths: The New Japanese Fashion Trend MJ 2006

  • The ring-leader is a buff, shirtless fellow in tartan punk-pants who calls himself (and I am NOT making this up) "Funktastic."

    Bulletproof Monk 2004

  • His tartan was a brilliant crimson and black that blazed among the more sedate MacKenzies in their green and white.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • “I will wager on Old Nick, of whom I should know something, he being indeed a worker in the same element with myself, against Catharine on that debate: the devil will have the tartan, that is sure enough.”

    The Fair Maid of Perth 2008

  • How can the voter distinguish between three identical headless chickens, especially when they are all dressed in tartan.

    Awa' Wi' Ye ! Laban 2006

  • The consciousness that his tartan was the subject of discussion made the Jew give way to such vehement ejaculations of anxiety, that Servadac turned round and peremptorily ordered him to desist from his clamor.

    Off on a Comet 2003

  • It is composed of a long antenna, like the yard of a tartan, which is supported in see-saw fashion on an upright beam, and carries at its extremity a wooden bucket.

    Egypt (La Mort de Philae) Pierre Loti 1886

  • The consciousness that his tartan was the subject of discussion made the Jew give way to such vehement ejaculations of anxiety, that Servadac turned round and peremptorily ordered him to desist from his clamor.

    Off on a Comet 1877

  • The consciousness that his tartan was the subject of discussion made the Jew give way to such vehement ejaculations of anxiety, that Servadac turned round and peremptorily ordered him to desist from his clamor.

    Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space Jules Verne 1866

Comments

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  • chained_bear commented on the word tartan

    "...having set no more sail and showing no sort of inclination to close with the tartan...

    'What tartan?' called Jack again.

    'Pola,' said the young woman...

    "Behind the tartan the land appeared with every upward heave..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander, 311

    A Sea of Words: "tartan or tartana: A small single-masted vessel, varying in size, with a large lateen sail and a foresail, used in the western Mediterranean for trading and fishing." (p. 432)

    March 29, 2008

  • reesetee commented on the word tartan

    Wait. Are you sure it's not a a cloth having a crisscross design?

    March 31, 2008

  • Prolagus commented on the word tartan

    Song quotation on spat.

    September 1, 2010