tarp

Etymology

It is a clipping from English of tarpaulin,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} first recorded in American English;^[4][6] Etymonline calls it an informal shortening and misdivision of the longer word.^[4] The longer word, recorded from the early 17th century, is generally thought to be formed from tar and pall with the suffix -ing, the canvas being coated with tar, but the OED calls this conjectural, since no compound of tar and pall is recorded.^[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tarpaulin: 1906, in the magazine Out West, in an account of men unrolling their tarps to make their beds for the night.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Green's Dictionary of Slang's early quotations are from camping in the American West, where the tarp kept bedding dry (1907, 1922), and it records the word in Australia by 1965.^[7] Collins labels it an informal word of the United States, Australia and New Zealand,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford calls it colloquial in North America and Australia.^[5] The verb, to cover with a tarpaulin, is recorded from 1979.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1906 – noun, a tarpaulin.^[2][7][3]
• 1979 – verb, to cover with a tarpaulin.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (informal) A tarpaulin, a large sheet of heavy waterproof material used as a cover: They threw a tarp over the woodpile.^[3][8][2]

Verb

1. To cover with a tarpaulin.^[2][5]

Related words

• tar
• pall

Usage notes

Written in capitals, TARP is also the acronym of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, a United States fund of the 2008 financial crisis.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins