tarp

Clipping of tarpaulin.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɑːp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: tärp, IPA^(key): /tɑɹp/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)p

tarp (plural tarps)

1. A tarpaulin.
   • 1934 June 26, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, comic strip, →ISBN, page 172:

     [Ignatz, under the rain:] It's a good thing I had this tarp handy. [...] / [Officer Pupp:] Gimme that canvas, it's much more important that I keep dry.

   • 1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books:

     {Gun pointing at head} Sorry, Quigley, but you had your chance to cooperate. / Bob, straighten the tarp, we don’t want the rug splattered.

• The short form might be perceived as informal, but in North American English, it has replaced tarpaulin in most situations.

tarp (third-person singular simple present tarps, present participle tarping, simple past and past participle tarped)

1. To cover something with a tarpaulin.
   • 2001, Verne Huser, River Running: Canoeing, Kayaking, Rowing, Rafting, page 136:

     The load may be tarped for serious white water, but tarped or not, everything should be tied securely in case of capsize.

• TRAP, part, part., patr-, prat, rapt, rtPA, trap

From the singular instrumental of tárpas (“gap, space”); compare dialectal tar̃pu.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /tɐ͡rp/

tar̃p (with genitive)

1. between (located in the middle of, connecting, dividing, or shared by two objects)

   Kóks skìrtumas tar̃p výrų ir̃ móterų? - What's the difference between men and women?

   Kẽlias tar̃p Vìlniaus ir̃ Kaũno - The road between Vilnius and Kaunas

2. among, amid (surrounded or encompassed by)

   Kaĩp vaĩkui ràsti viẽtą tar̃p bendraam̃žių? - How can a child find a place amongst his peers?

See tarpas, tarp-.