tarpaulin
UK/tɑˈpɔː.lɪn/US/ˈtɑːɹpəlɪn/
tarpaulin noun: a heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth or plastic sheet, used as a cover or blanket (often as weatherproofing, or to keep loose cargo from blowing off a lorry).
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Noun
tarpaulin (countable and uncountable, plural tarpaulins)
- A heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth or plastic sheet, used as a cover or blanket (often as weatherproofing, or to keep loose cargo from blowing off a lorry).
- Throw a tarpaulin over that woodpile before it gets wet.
- There were sailors asleep in the fantastic fashion of the British tarpaulin — snoring heavily as they lay on the bare deck, despite the din about them.1946, C. S. Forester, chapter 4, in Lord Hornblower, Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.
- Canvas waterproofed with tar, used as a cover.
- A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others.
- Near-synonym: rain hat
- Synonyms:
- rain hat
- A sailor.
- Synonyms:
- tar
Verb
tarpaulin (third-person singular simple present tarpaulins, present participle tarpaulining, simple past and past participle tarpaulined)
- To cover with a tarpaulin.
- "Cover it up! Don't touch it!" said the Professor. So we tarpaulined it according to his instructions, and there it lies.1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed
tarpaulin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
tarpaulin in Hindi
- heavy, waterproof sheet of material
- तिरपाल tirpāl, ताड़पत्री tāṛpatrī
tarpaulin in Tamil
- கருங்கித்தான், தார்ப் பாய், தார்ப்பாய், நீர்க்காப்பு முரட்டுத் துணி, கூடாரச்சீலை, தார்சணற்பாய்
tarpaulin in Urdu
- heavy, waterproof sheet of material
- تِرپال tirpāl
tarpaulin in Malayalam
- മെഴുകുതുണി, ജലം കടക്കാത്ത തുണി, തർപ്പായി
More languagesFewer languages
- tarpaulin in Kannada
- ನೀರಿಳಿಯದ ಬಟ್ಟೆ
- tarpaulin in Tagalog
- tarapal
- tarpaulin in Indonesian
- terpal
- tarpaulin in Persian
- بِرِزِنْت berezent
- tarpaulin in Thai
- ผ้าใบกันน้ำ
- tarpaulin in Vietnamese
- bạt
Examples of tarpaulin in a sentence
- Water dripped onto the tarpaulin with a drummy sound.
- So we slept, coorieing down into the blankets under the tarpaulin.
- They were all two-horse wagons with sacks piled high above their sides and covered with tarpaulins.
Synonyms of tarpaulin
Forms of tarpaulin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tarpaulins |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tarpaulins |
| present participle | tarpaulining |
| past participle | tarpaulined |
| past | tarpaulined |
Origin of tarpaulin
From tar + pall (“heavy canvas”) + -ing. The sailor sense reflects that sailors of centuries past often wore garments made of tarred cloth (for weatherproofing).
Words formed from tarpaulin
Questions about tarpaulin
- What does tarpaulin mean?
- Tarpaulin means a heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth or plastic sheet, used as a cover or blanket (often as weatherproofing, or to keep loose cargo from blowing off a lorry).
- What is tarpaulin in Hindi?
- Tarpaulin in Hindi is तिरपाल (tirpāl), ताड़पत्री (tāṛpatrī). See Tarpaulin meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tarpaulin?
- Tarpaulin can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce tarpaulin?
- Tarpaulin is pronounced /tɑˈpɔː.lɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tarpaulin?
- The plural of tarpaulin is tarpaulins.
Words near tarpaulin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tarpaulin (page history and authors); tarpaulin (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tarpaulin (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tarpaulin (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-tarpaulin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tarpaulin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tarpaulin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.