tarpaulin

English

Etymology

From tar + pall (“heavy canvas”) + -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɑˈpɔː.lɪn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑːɹpəlɪn/, /tɑɹˈpɔ.lɪn/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːlɪn

Noun

tarpaulin (countable and uncountable, plural tarpaulins)

1. (countable) A tarp, a heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth, used as a cover or blanket.

   Throw a tarpaulin over that woodpile before it gets wet.

2. (countable, slang, archaic) A sailor.

   Synonym: tar

3. (uncountable, obsolete) Any heavy, waterproof material used as a cover.
4. (uncountable, nautical, obsolete) Canvas waterproofed with tar, used as a cover.
5. A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others.

Translations

heavy, waterproof sheet of material

• Armenian: բրեզենտ (hy) (brezent)
• Azerbaijani: brezent
• Belarusian: брызе́нт m (bryzjént), брэзэ́нт m (brezént), брызэ́нт m (bryzént)
• Bulgarian: мушама́ f (mušamá), брезе́нт (bg) m (brezént)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 油布 (zh) (yóubù), 防水布 (zh) (fángshuǐbù), 苫布 (zh) (shànbù)

• Czech: plachtovina f, celtovina (cs) f, nepromokavá (vodoodpudivá, vodoodpuzující) látka (tkanina)
• Danish: presenning c
• Dutch: zeildoek (nl) n, (Flemish, dialectal) bâche f, dekzeil (nl) n
• Estonian: present (et)
• Finnish: suojapeite, pressu (fi)
• French: bâche (fr) f
• Georgian: ბრეზენტი (brezenṭi)
• German: Persenning (de) f, Plane (de) f, Abdeckplane (de) f
• Greek: μουσαμάς (el) m (mousamás)
• Hausa: tàmfôl m
• Hebrew: בְּרֶזֶנְט (he) m (brezént)
• Hindi: तिरपाल (hi) m (tirpāl)
• Hungarian: ponyva (hu)
• Icelandic: yfirbreiðsla f
• Indonesian: terpal (id)
• Italian: telone impermeabile m, tela cerata f
• Japanese: タープ (ja) (tāpu), ターポリン (tāporin)
• Kazakh: брезент (brezent)
• Korean: 타프 (ko) (tapeu), 방수포(防水布) (ko) (bangsupo)
• Kyrgyz: брезент (ky) (brezent)
• Latvian: brezents m
• Lithuanian: brezentas m
• Macedonian: мушама f (mušama), церада f (cerada)
• Maori: tāpōrena
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: брезент (mn) (brezent)

• Navajo: níbaal
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: presenning m

• Persian: بِرِزِنْت (fa) (berezent)
• Polish: brezent (pl) m
• Portuguese: encerado m, oleado (pt) m, lona (pt) f
• Romanian: prelată (ro) f
• Russian: брезе́нт (ru) m (brezént)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цера́да f

  Roman: ceráda (sh) f

• Slovak: celtovina f
• Slovene: ponjava f, cerada f
• Spanish: lona alquitranada f, lona impermeable f, lona (es) f
• Swedish: presenning (sv) c
• Tagalog: tarapal
• Tajik: брезент (brezent)
• Thai: ผ้าใบกันน้ำ
• Turkish: muşamba (tr), branda (tr), tente (tr)
• Turkmen: brezent (tk)
• Ukrainian: брезе́нт (uk) m (brezént)
• Urdu: تِرپال m (tirpāl)
• Uyghur: برېزېنت (brëzënt)
• Uzbek: brezent (uz)
• Vietnamese: bạt (vi)

sailor — see sailor

any heavy, waterproof material used as a cover

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: zeildoek (nl) n, (Flemish, dialectal) bâche f
• Finnish: pressu (fi)
• French: bâche (fr) f
• Hebrew: בְּרֶזֶנְט (he) m (brezént)
• Italian: telone (it) m
• Maori: tāpōrena
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: presenning m

• Portuguese: lona (pt) f
• Russian: тент (ru) m (tɛnt)
• Spanish: lona (es)

canvas waterproofed with tar, used as a cover

• Bulgarian: мушама́ f (mušamá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: gudrotuko
• Finnish: tervakangas
• French: bâche (fr) f, prélart (fr) m
• Hebrew: אַבַּרְזִין (he) m (abarzín)
• Italian: incerata (it) f, tela incatramata f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: presenning (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Crimean Tatar: ^{(please verify)} brezent
• French: ^{(please verify)} bâche (fr) c
• German: ^{(please verify)} Plane (de) f

Verb

tarpaulin (third-person singular simple present tarpaulins, present participle tarpaulining, simple past and past participle tarpaulined)

1. To cover with a tarpaulin.
   • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎^[1]:

     "Cover it up! Don't touch it!" said the Professor. So we tarpaulined it according to his instructions, and there it lies.

Usage notes

• In the US, tarp has been more common than tarpaulin in print since about 1990. In speech since at least 1970.

Derived terms

• tarp
• paulin

Translations

to cover with a tarpaulin — see tarp

See also

• pall

Further reading

• tarpaulin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• unpartial