[oftenJ-]Brit., Informal a sailor
Origin of jack-tar
jack + tarjack-tar
jack-tar jack-tar
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"jack-tar." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar>.
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jack-tar. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar
jack-tar
also Jack-tar
noun
A sailor.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"jack-tar." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar>.
APA Style
jack-tar. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar
Origin
From Jack, a common name for a sailor plus tar, used to waterproof sails as well as the seams between planks on wooden ships (1781). Sailors also used tar for clothing, grooming: their coats and hats, were made of the waterproof fabric called tarpaulin; seamen commonly pleated their long hair into a pigtail and smeared it with high grade tar to prevent it getting caught in the ship's equipment, a practice that continued until the early 20th century. Often a sailor's hands would be stained with tar.
Noun
- (UK) Alternative spelling of jacktar.
Noun
(plural Jack Tars)
- (UK, idiomatic) Alternative spelling of jacktar.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"jack-tar." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar>.
APA Style
jack-tar. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/jack-tar
