/ˈtæ.ɹi/, /ˈtæ.ɹi/, /ˈtɛɹ.i/
OriginFrom Middle English tarien, terien (“to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay”), from Old English tirian, tirġan, terġan (“to worry, exasperate, pain, provoke, excite”), from Proto-Germanic *terganą, *targijaną (“to pull, tease, irritate”), from Proto-Indo-European *derHgʰ- (“to pull, tug, irritate”). Cognate with Dutch tergen (“to provoke”), German zergen (“to vex, irritate, provoke”), Norwegian Bokmål terge (“to irritate, provoke”), Russian дёргать (djórgatʹ, “to pull, yank, jerk, pester”). Compare also Walloon tårdjî (“to be late, to be slow, to wait”).
Compare typologically Czech meškat, Russian ме́шкать (méškatʹ) (akin to меша́ть (mešátʹ)), копа́ться (kopátʹsja) (akin to копа́ть (kopátʹ)).
- dated, intransitiveTo delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.
“I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.”
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
“But so was Face, crouched before the fire in her banana skins, and so was Mug, smoking a cigarette and saying as he flicked the ash: “Why doth the bridegroom tarry?””
- dated, intransitiveTo linger in expectation of something or until something is done or happens.
“And, thinking of to-morrow, when the church would rise up, singing, under the booming Sunday light, he thought of the light for which they tarried, which, in an instant, filled the soul, causing […] t”
- dated, intransitiveTo abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
“[...] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.”
- dated, intransitiveTo stay somewhere temporarily.
“In this by-place of nature, there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane; who sojourned, or, as he expresse”
- dated, transitiveTo wait for; to stay or stop for; to allow to linger.
“Fly, fly, my lord. There is no tarrying here.”
“He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.”
“"If I had heard otherwise," said the old man, looking up with a stern and menacing countenance, "you should have heard of it too." And he plodded on his way, tarrying no farther question.”
- datedResembling tar.
“And he led the way from the station, stopping once to gloat over the sunset across Trafalgar Square, and again to inhale the tarry scent of the warm wood-paving, which was perfume to his nostrils as t”
- datedCovered with tar.
Formstarries(present, singular, third-person) · tarrying(participle, present) · tarried(participle, past) · tarried(past) · tarrow(alternative, Scotland) · tarries(plural) · tarrier(comparative) · tarriest(superlative) · Tarrys(plural)