Tarpaulin
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A tarp, a heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth, used as a cover or blanket. countable
"Throw a tarpaulin over that woodpile before it gets wet."
- 2 waterproofed canvas wordnet
- 3 A sailor. archaic, countable, slang
"There were sailors asleep in the fantastic fashion of the British tarpaulin — snoring heavily as they lay on the bare deck, despite the din about them."
- 4 Any heavy, waterproof material used as a cover. obsolete, uncountable
- 5 Canvas waterproofed with tar, used as a cover. obsolete, uncountable
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others. countable, uncountable
- 1 To cover with a tarpaulin.
""Cover it up! Don't touch it!" said the Professor. So we tarpaulined it according to his instructions, and there it lies."
Example
More examples"Sheltered by a tarpaulin from the blazing sun, a group of Kenyan women weave handfuls of dried reeds, their practiced hands turning them into exquisite baskets, mats and hats that have been sold to tourists from around the world."
Etymology
From tar + pall (“heavy canvas”) + -ing.
More for "tarpaulin"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.