Tartar Definition | Definition of Tartar at Dictionary.com

tar⋅tar

[tahr-ter]

–noun

1.	Dentistry. calculus (def. 3).

2.	the deposit from wines, potassium bitartrate.

3.	the intermediate product of cream of tartar, obtained from the crude form, argol.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < ML tartarum < LGk tártaron; r. ME tartre < MF < ML, as above

Tar⋅tar

[tahr-ter]

–noun

1.	a member of any of the various tribes, chiefly Mongolian and Turkish, who, originally under the leadership of Genghis Khan, overran Asia and much of eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.

2.	a member of the descendants of this people variously intermingled with other peoples and tribes, now inhabiting parts of the European and W and central Asian Russian Federation.

3.	Tatar (defs. 1–3).

4.	(often lowercase) a savage, intractable person.

5.	(often lowercase) an ill-tempered person.

–adjective

6.	of or pertaining to a Tartar or Tartars; Tartarian.

7.	Tatar (def. 5). Also, Tatar (for defs. 1, 2, 4–8).

—Idiom

8.	catch a Tartar, to deal with someone or something that proves unexpectedly troublesome or powerful. Also, catch a tartar.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < ML Tartarus, perh. var. of *Tātārus < Pers Tātār, by assoc. with Tartarus; r. ME Tartre < MF < ML, as above

Related forms:

Tar⋅tar⋅ly, adverb

Tar⋅tar

[tahr-ter]

–noun Obsolete.

Tartarus.

cal⋅cu⋅lus

[kal-kyuh-luh

–noun, plural -li [-lahy]

, -lus⋅es.

1.	Mathematics. a method of calculation, esp. one of several highly systematic methods of treating problems by a special system of algebraic notations, as differential or integral calculus.

2.	Pathology. a stone, or concretion, formed in the gallbladder, kidneys, or other parts of the body.

3.	Also called tartar. Dentistry. a hard, yellowish to brownish-black deposit on teeth formed largely through the mineralization of dead bacteria in dental plaques by the calcium salts in salivary secretions and subgingival transudates.

4.	calculation; estimation or computation: the calculus of political appeal.

Origin:
1610–20; < L: pebble, small stone (used in reckoning), equiv. to calc- (s. of calx stone) + -ulus -ule

Ta⋅tar

[tah-ter]

–noun

1.	a member of a modern Turkic people living in the Tatar Autonomous Republic and adjacent regions of eastern European Russia and in widely scattered communities in western Siberia and central Asia.

2.	the language of this people, including the literary language of the Tatar Autonomous Republic, the dialects of the Tatar Autonomous Republic and adjacent regions of the Volga basin (Volga Tatar), and numerous other dialects, some transitional to other Turkic languages.

3.	Crimean Tatar.

4.	Tartar (defs. 1, 2, 4–8).

–adjective

5.	of or pertaining to the Tatars or their language.

6.	Tartar (def. 6).

Also, Tartar (for defs. 1–3, 5).

Origin:
1805–15; see Tartar

Related forms:

Ta⋅tar⋅i⋅an [tah-tair-ee-uh

, Ta⋅tar⋅ic [tah-tar-ik]

, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To tartar

tar·tar (tär'tər)

Dentistry A hard yellowish deposit on the teeth, consisting of organic secretions and food particles deposited in various salts, such as calcium carbonate. Also called calculus.
A reddish acid compound, chiefly potassium bitartrate, found in the juice of grapes and deposited on the sides of casks during winemaking.

[Middle English tartre, potassium bitartrate, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tartarum, argol, from Medieval Greek tartaron.]

Tar·tar (tär'tər)

also Ta·tar (tä'tər) A member of any of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples of central Asia who invaded western Asia and eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.
Variant of Tatar.
often tartar A person regarded as ferocious or violent.

[Middle English Tartre, from Old French Tartare, from Medieval Latin Tartarus, alteration (influenced by Latin Tartarus, Tartarus) of Persian Tātār; see Tatar.]

Ta·tar (tä'tər)

also Tar·tar (tär'tər) A member of a group of Turkic peoples primarily inhabiting Tatarstan in west-central Russia and parts of Siberia and Central Asia.
Tartar Any of the Turkic languages of the Tatars.
Variant of Tartar.
tatar A ferocious or violent person; a tartar.

[Persian Tātār, of Turkic origin.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Tartar

Tar"tar\, n. [F. tartre (cf. Pr. tartari, Sp., Pg., & It. tartaro, LL. tartarum, LGr. ?); perhaps of Arabic origin.]

1. (Chem.) A reddish crust or sediment in wine casks, consisting essentially of crude cream of tartar, and used in marking pure cream of tartar, tartaric acid, potassium carbonate, black flux, etc., and, in dyeing, as a mordant for woolen goods; -- called also argol, wine stone, etc.

2. A correction which often incrusts the teeth, consisting of salivary mucus, animal matter, and phosphate of lime.

Cream of tartar. (Chem.) See under Cream.

Tartar emetic (Med. Chem.), a double tartrate of potassium and basic antimony. It is a poisonous white crystalline substance having a sweetish metallic taste, and used in medicine as a sudorific and emetic.

Tartar

Tar"tar\, n. 1. [Per. T[=a]t[=a]r, of Tartar origin.] A native or inhabitant of Tartary in Asia; a member of any one of numerous tribes, chiefly Moslem, of Turkish origin, inhabiting the Russian Europe; -- written also, more correctly but less usually, Tatar.

2. A person of a keen, irritable temper.

To catch a tartar, to lay hold of, or encounter, a person who proves too strong for the assailant. [Colloq.]

Tartar

Tar"tar\, a. Of or pertaining to Tartary in Asia, or the Tartars.

Tartar

Tar"tar\, n. [Cf. F. tartare.] See Tartarus. --Shak.

tartar

"bitartrate of potash" (a deposit left during fermentation), c.1386, from O.Fr. tartre, from M.L. tartarum, from late Gk. tartaron "tartar encrusting the sides of casks," perhaps of Semitic origin. The meaning "encrustation on teeth" (calcium phosphate) is first recorded 1806.

Tartar

c.1369 (implied in Tartary, "the land of the Tartars"), from M.L. Tartarus, from Pers. Tatar, first used 13c. in reference to the hordes of Ghengis Khan (1202-1227), said ult. to be from Tata, a name of the Mongols for themselves. Form in European languages probably influenced by L. Tartarus "hell" [e.g. letter of St. Louis of France, 1270: "In the present danger of the Tartars either we shall push them back into the Tartarus whence they are come, or they will bring us all into heaven"]. The historical word for what now are called in ethnological works Tatars. A Turkic people, their native region was east of the Caspian Sea. Ghengis' horde was a mix of Tatars. Mongols, Turks, etc. Used figuratively for "savage, rough, irascible person" (1663); Byron's tartarly (1821) is a nonce-word. To catch a Tartar "get hold of what cannot be controlled" is recorded from 1663; original sense not preserved, but probably from some military story similar to the old battlefield joke:

Irish soldier (shouting from within the brush): I've captured one of the enemy.
Captain: Excellent! Bring him here.
Soldier: He won't come.
Captain: Well, then, you come here.
Soldier: I would, but he won't let me.

Tartar sauce is first recorded 1855, from Fr. sauce tartare.

Main Entry: tar·tar
Pronunciation: 'tärt-&r
Function: noun
: an incrustation on the teeth consisting of salivary secretion, food residue, andvarious salts (as calcium carbonate)

tartar tar·tar (tär'tər)
n.
A hard, yellowish deposit on the teeth, consisting of organic secretions and food particles deposited in various salts, such as calcium carbonate. Also called dental calculus.

tartar (tär'tər) Pronunciation Key

A hard yellowish deposit on the teeth, consisting of organic secretions and food particles deposited in various salts, such as calcium carbonate.
A reddish acid compound consisting of a tartrate of potassium, found in the juice of grapes and deposited on the sides of wine casks.

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