See Also: Tartar(medicine)
Tartar(tourism)
tartar(dictionary)
tartar(dictionary)
Tartar(2)(dictionary)
Tartar(1)(dictionary)
Tartar(health)
Cream of tartar(recipes)
Tartar Sauce(recipes)
cream of tartar(medicine)

Tartar(2) (iou)



Tartar noun2 & adjective. LME.
[Old & mod. French Tartare or medieval Latin Tartarus (infl. by Latin TARTARUS), formed as TATAR (now the preferred ethnological term). Cf. TARTARE.]
A. noun.
Orig., a member of the combined forces of central Asian peoples, including Mongols and Turks, who under the leadership of Genghis Khan (1202-27) overran much of Asia and eastern Europe and later established a far-reaching and powerful empire in central Europe. Now = TATAR noun 1. LME.
a. A strolling vagabond, a thief, a beggar. slang. L16-L17.
b. A person supposed to resemble a Tartar in disposition; a rough, violent-tempered, or irritable and intractable person. L16.
T. Keneally He got a bloody tartar for a wife.
The language of the Tartars; = TATAR noun 2. M17.
Phrases: catch a Tartar encounter or get hold of a person who can neither be controlled nor got rid of; meet with a person who is unexpectedly more than one's match.
b. adjective.
Of or pertaining to the Tartars, their language, or the former land of Tartary. M18.
tartar sauce a sauce made of mayonnaise and chopped gherkins, capers, etc., usu. served with fish (cf. TARTARE sauce, sauce TARTARE).
fig. Rough; violent-tempered; intractable. E19.
Tartarly adjective (rare) having the supposed qualities of a Tartar; rough and fierce: E19.