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Synonyms

tan

1 American  
[tan] / tæn /

verb (used with object)

tanned, tanning

  1. to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.

  2. to make brown by exposure to ultraviolet rays, as of the sun.

  3. Informal. to thrash; spank.

verb (used without object)

tanned, tanning

  1. to become tanned.

noun

  1. the brown color imparted to the skin by exposure to the sun or open air.

  2. yellowish brown; light brown.

  3. tanbark.

adjective

tanner, tannest

  1. of the color of tan; yellowish-brown.

  2. used in or relating to tanning processes, materials, etc.

idioms

  1. tan someone's hide, to beat someone soundly.

    She threatened to tan our hides if she found us on her property again.
tan 2 American  
[tan] / tæn /

noun

  1. tangent.

Tan 3 American  
[tan] / tæn /

noun

  1. Amy, born 1952, U.S. novelist.

TAN 4 American  
[tan] / tæn /

noun

  1. tax-anticipation note.

tan 1 British  
/ tæn /

abbreviation

  1. tangent (sense 2)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
tan 2 British  
/ tæn /

noun

  1. the brown colour produced by the skin after intensive exposure to ultraviolet rays, esp those of the sun

  2. a light or moderate yellowish-brown colour

  3. short for tanbark

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to go brown or cause to go brown after exposure to ultraviolet rays

    she tans easily

  2. to convert (a skin or hide) into leather by treating it with a tanning agent, such as vegetable tannins, chromium salts, fish oils, or formaldehyde

  3. slang (tr) to beat or flog

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. of the colour tan

    tan gloves

  2. used in or relating to tanning

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
tan Scientific  

  1. Abbreviation of tangent

Other Word Forms

  • tannable adjective
  • tannish adjective
  • untanned adjective
  • well-tanned adjective

Etymology

Origin of tan1

First recorded before 1000; 1920–25 tan 1 for def. 2; Middle English tannen “to make hide into leather,” late Old English tannian (only in past participle getanned ), from Medieval Latin tannāre, derivative of tannum “oak bark, tanbark,” from Germanic; compare Old High German tanna “oak, fir,” akin to Dutch den “fir”

Origin of tan2

By shortening

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.