black and tans
black and tans is the plural of black and tan.
Meaning of black and tan
Noun
black and tan (countable and uncountable, plural black and tans)
- Any of various breeds of dog having black and tan colouring.
- A bar, nightclub etc. which had both black and white customers, especially one that featured black entertainers.
- An alcoholic drink made from a dark and a light malt, typically stout (black) and ale (tan).
- Not only did the Dublin barkeeps not make a shamrock in the foam, they claimed to not even know what a black and tan was.
Noun capitalized: Black and Tans
Black and Tans
- Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, which was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress revolution in Ireland.
- plural of Black and Tan
Origin of black and tans
From the colours of their uniforms.
Questions about black and tans
- What does black and tans mean?
- Black and tans means royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, which was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress revolution in Ireland.
- What is black and tans the plural of?
- Black and tans is the plural of black and tan.
- What part of speech is black and tans?
- Black and tans is a noun.
Words near black and tans in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: black and tans (page history and authors); Black and Tans (page history and authors); black and tan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “black and tans.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/black_and_tans. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.