Word.ws English Dictionary

catch a Tartar

catch a Tartar verb: to discover someone is much stronger, much more dangerous, or much more violent than they appeared at first, especially after laying hands on them.

Verb

catch a Tartar (third-person singular simple present catches a Tartar, present participle catching a Tartar, simple past and past participle caught a Tartar)

  1. (archaic, colloquial) To discover someone is much stronger, much more dangerous, or much more violent than they appeared at first, especially after laying hands on them
    • Now thou hast got me for a Tartar,
      To make m 'gainst my will take quarter.1674, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, §1.3.175
    • What a Tartar have I caught!1680, John Dryden, Kind Keeper, §5.1.62
  2. (obsolete, thieves' cant) To fail in attempt to rob someone who turns out to be a stronger robber.
  3. (archaic, colloquial, figuratively) To discover someone who cannot be controlled or disposed of more generally.
    • You must give up flirting, my boy, or if I mistake not, you'll find you've caught a Tartar.1897, Florence Marryat, chapter XIV, in The Blood of the Vampire

Synonyms of catch a Tartar

Forms of catch a Tartar

third-person singular presentcatches a Tartar
present participlecatching a Tartar
past participlecaught a Tartar
pastcaught a Tartar

Questions about catch a Tartar

What does catch a Tartar mean?
Catch a Tartar means to discover someone is much stronger, much more dangerous, or much more violent than they appeared at first, especially after laying hands on them.
What part of speech is catch a Tartar?
Catch a Tartar is a verb.
What is the past tense of catch a Tartar?
The past tense of catch a Tartar is caught a Tartar.

Words near catch a Tartar in the dictionary

  1. catch a falling knife
  2. catch a packet
  3. catch a ride
  4. catch a square
  5. catch a stray
  6. catch a Tartar
  7. catch a wave
  8. catch air
  9. catch and kill
  10. catch and kiss
  11. catch and release

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch a Tartar (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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