tarpaulin

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: tar=pau=lin

CIDE DICTIONARY

tarpaulin, n. [Tar + palling a covering, pall to cover. See Pall a covering.].

•  A piece of canvas covered with tar or a waterproof composition, used for covering the hatches of a ship, hammocks, boats, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, a sailor; a seaman; a tar.  [1913 Webster]

  "To a landsman, these tarpaulins, as they were called, seemed a strange and half-savage race."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tarpaulin, n.
1 heavy-duty waterproof cloth esp. of tarred canvas.
2 a sheet or covering of this.
3 a a sailor's tarred or oilskin hat. b archaic a sailor.

Etymology

prob. f. TAR(1) + PALL(1) + -ING(1)

ROGET THESAURUS

tarpaulin

Covering

N covering, cover, baldachin, baldachino, baldaquin, canopy, tilt, awning, tent, marquee, tente d'abri, umbrella, parasol, sunshade, veil (shade), shield, roof, ceiling, thatch, tile, pantile, pentile, tiling, slates, slating, leads, barrack, plafond, planchment, tiling, shed, top, lid, covercle, door, operculum, bulkhead, bandage, plaster, lint, wrapping, dossil, finger stall, coverlet, counterpane, sheet, quilt, tarpaulin, blanket, rug, drugget, housing, antimacassar, eiderdown, numdah, pillowcase, pillowslip, linoleum, saddle cloth, blanket cloth, tidy, tilpah, apishamore, integument, tegument, skin, pellicle, fleece, fell, fur, leather, shagreen, hide, pelt, peltry, cordwain, derm, robe, buffalo robe, cuticle, scarfskin, epidermis, clothing, mask, peel, crust, bark, rind, cortex, husk, shell, coat, eggshell, glume, capsule, sheath, sheathing, pod, cod, casing, case, theca, elytron, elytrum, involucrum, wrapping, wrapper, envelope, vesicle, corn husk, corn shuck, dermatology, conchology, testaceology, inunction, incrustation, superimposition, superposition, obduction, scale, veneer, facing, overlay, plate, silver plate, gold plate, copper plate, engobe, ormolu, Sheffield plate, pavement, coating, paint, varnish, plating, barrel plating, anointing, enamel, epitaxial deposition, vapor deposition, ground, whitewash, plaster, spackel, stucco, compo, cerement, ointment, covering, superimposed, overlaid, plated, cutaneous, dermal, cortical, cuticular, tegumentary, skinny, scaly, squamous, covered, imbricated, loricated, armor plated, ironclad, under cover, cowled, cucullate, dermatoid, encuirassed, hooded, squamiferous, tectiform, vaginate.