tartan
/ˈtɑɹtn̩/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.91 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
Uncountable
noun
Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
Countable
noun
Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
Uncountable
noun
An individual who wears tartan (etymology 1, noun sense 1.2); specifically, a Scottish Highlander, or a Scottish person (chiefly a Scotsman) in general.
Countable
noun
A young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland.
British usage; Countable
noun
Preceded by the: a group of people customarily wearing tartan; Scottish Highlanders or Scottish people collectively; also, the soldiers of a Scottish Highland regiment collectively.
Uncountable
noun
Originally a trade name in the form Tartan: a synthetic resin used for surfacing ramps, running tracks, etc.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Her hands trembled […] as she adjusted the scarlet tartan screen or muffler made of plaid, which the Scottish women wore, much in the fashion of the black silk veils still a part of female dress in the Netherlands."
- "The country which lay just above this pass was now the theatre of a war such as the Highlands had not often witnessed. Men wearing the same tartan, and attached to the same lord, were arrayed against each other."
- "Dovvn flovv'd her robe, a tartan ſheen, / Till half a leg vvas ſcrimply ſeen; […]"
- "What is called the tartan-fly kills well in the Highlands at the clearing of the water. The tail must be yellow, mixed with a little red; and tipt with silver-thread; the body must be of five or six different colours, yellow, blue, orange, green, red, and black; the colours must join; […]"
- "The Shankill was a tough district all right. It was really hard-line Protestant and most of the kids were in tough Prod gangs, like the Tartans."
- "Sir Colin [Campbell] called to Colonel [John Frederick] Ewart, 'Ewart, bring on the tartan!'; his bugler sounded the advance, and the seven companies of the Ninety-Third [(Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot] dashed from behind the bank."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɑɹtn̩/
- British English: /ˈtɑːt(ə)n/
Usage
- Uncountable
- Countable
- British usage
- Humorous
- Transitive verb