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tan

[tan]

Origin

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verb (used with object)

to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.

to make brown by exposure to ultraviolet rays, as of the sun.

Informal. to thrash; spank.

verb (used without object)

to become tanned.

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Tan is one of our favorite verbs.

So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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noun

the brown color imparted to the skin by exposure to the sun or open air.

yellowish brown; light brown.

tanbark.

adjective

of the color of tan; yellowish-brown.

used in or relating to tanning processes, materials, etc.

Idiom

10.

tan someone's hide, Informal. to beat someone soundly: She threatened to tan our hides if she found us on her property again.

Origin:
before 1000; 1920–25 for def. 2; Middle English tannen to make hide into leather, late Old English *tannian (in past participle getanned; compare tanner¹) < Medieval Latin tannāre, derivative of tannum oak bark, tanbark < Germanic; compare Old High German tanna oak, fir, akin to Dutch den fir

Related forms

tan·na·ble, adjective

un·tanned, adjective

well-tanned, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

tangent (def. 5b).

Origin:
by shortening

noun

Amy, born 1952, U.S. novelist.

noun

tax-anticipation note.

Symbol, Trigonometry.

arc tangent.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To tan

Collins

World English Dictionary

tan¹ (tæn)

—n
1.	the brown colour produced by the skin after intensive exposure to ultraviolet rays, esp those of the sun
2.	a light or moderate yellowish-brown colour
3.	short for tanbark

—vb , tans, tanning, tanned
4.	to go brown or cause to go brown after exposure to ultraviolet rays: she tans easily
5.	to convert (a skin or hide) into leather by treating it with a tanning agent, such as vegetable tannins, chromium salts, fish oils, or formaldehyde
6.	slang (tr) to beat or flog

—*adj* , tans, tanning, tanned, tanner, tannest
7.	of the colour tan: tan gloves
8.	used in or relating to tanning

[Old English tannian (unattested as infinitive, attested as getanned, past participle), from Medieval Latin tannāre, from tannum tanbark, perhaps of Celtic origin; compare Irish tana thin]

'tannable¹

—*adj*

'tannish¹

—*adj*

tan² (tæn)

—*abbreviation for*
	tangent (sense 2)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

tan

late O.E. tannian "to convert hide into leather" (by steeping it in tannin), from M.L. tannare "tan, dye, a tawny color" (c.900), from tannum "crushed oak bark," used in tanning leather, probably from a Celtic source (e.g. Breton tann "oak tree"). The meaning "make brown by exposure to the sun" first

EXPAND

recorded 1530. To tan (someone's) hide in the figurative sense is from 1670. The adj. tan "of the color of tanned leather" is recorded from 1665; the noun sense of "bronze color imparted to skin by exposure to sun" is from 1749; as a simple name for a brownish color, in any context, it is recorded from 1888.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

tan
Abbreviation of tangent

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

tan
tangent

TAN
teeny area network