tarmac
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Plane on a tarmac
English
Etymology
Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar + macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
tarmac (countable and uncountable, plural tarmacs)
- Tarmacadam.
- Coordinate term: asphalt concrete
- (loosely, UK, Ireland, Canada) Any bituminous road surfacing material.
- Synonym: asphalt
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […] .
- (UK, Ireland, Canada) The driveable surface of a road.
- (informal, aviation) The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.
Translations
bituminous road surface
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area of an airport, where planes park or maneuver
See also
Verb
tarmac (third-person singular simple present tarmacs, present participle tarmacking or tarmacing or tarmaccing, simple past and past participle tarmacked or tarmaced or tarmacced)
- (British, Canada) To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.
- 2008, Valerie Belsey, Exploring Green Lanes in North and North-West Devon, →ISBN, page 108:
- To your left is a green lane, partly tarmacked with chippings, which leads up to a little car-parking area.
- 2014, Taking the rough with the smooth: Bolton residents anger over half-tarmaced road, ITV Granada:
- Residents in Bolton are angry after workmen tarmaced only one half of their road leaving the other half strewn with potholes.
- (aviation) To spend time idling on a runway, usually waiting for takeoff clearance.
- 1989, Donald F. Wood, James C. Johnson, Contemporary Transportation, →ISBN, page 213:
- "It is not unusual these days for the time spent tarmacking to exceed the time spent in the air, " said Senator John Danforth, R-Mo.
Derived terms
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English, a clipping of tarmacadam. Genericized trademark.
Pronunciation
Noun
tarmac m (plural tarmacs)
- tarmac (part of airport)
Irish
Etymology
Noun
tarmac m (genitive singular tarmac)
Declension
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Synonyms
References
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “tarmac”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN