tarp
Americannoun
acronym
noun
Etymology
Origin of tarp
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; by shortening
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A mountain of chairs set against the backdrop of a tarp curtain is the starting point for a production that recaps Shakespeare’s War of the Roses saga.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
A memorial that has sprung up in front of the bar, loaded with flowers, candles and messages of grief and support, was covered in an igloo-like tarp Thursday to protect it from the heavy snowfall.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
Uphill from the swollen Wenatchee River, 62-year-old Lisa Hart sat in her recently deceased parents’ kitchen, watching friends drape a tarp over the roof.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
A bright orange tarp, meant to serve as a tent, kept ripping loose in the wind.
From Salon • Nov. 21, 2025
Once our roof was up, we pulled the other tarp around the poles, securing it as best we could to make three flimsy walls.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
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.
