English

Noun

tarmac ‎(plural tarmacs)

1. (Britain, Canada) The bituminous surface of a road.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 3/1/1, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […] .

2. (aviation) The area of an airport where planes park or maneuver.

Usage notes

• The tarmac is any area of an airfield that is paved. It is often used to describe planes that are still sitting on a paved surface due to some sort of delay.

Translations

See also

• asphalt

Verb

tarmac ‎(third-person singular simple present tarmacs, present participle tarmacking or tarmacing, simple past and past participle tarmacked or tarmaced)

1. (Britain, Canada) To pave.
   • 2008, Valerie Belsey, Exploring Green Lanes in North and North-West Devon, ISBN 1900322218, page 108:

     To your left is a green lane, partly tarmacked with chippings, which leads up to a little car-parking area.

   • 2014, Taking the rough with the smooth: Bolton residents anger over half-tarmaced road, ITV Granada:

     Residents in Bolton are angry after workmen tarmaced only one half of their road leaving the other half strewn with potholes.

2. (aviation) To spend time idling on a runway, usually waiting for takeoff clearance.
   • 1989, Donald F. Wood & James C. Johnson, Contemporary Transportation, ISBN 0024294802, page 213:

     "It is not unusual these days for the time spent tarmacking to exceed the time spent in the air, " said Senator John Danforth, R-Mo.

Alternative forms

• tarmack

Derived terms

• retarmac
• untarmacked

Anagrams

• mactra

French

Noun

tarmac m ‎(plural tarmacs)

1. tarmac (part of airport)

Irish

Etymology

Borrowing from English tarmac.

Noun

tarmac m ‎(genitive singular tarmac)

1. tarmac

Declension

Synonyms

• tarramhacadam

References

• "tarmac" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.