Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To vex; irritate; provoke; incite. See tar.
  • To continue in a place; remain; stay; sojourn; abide; lodge.
  • To wait or stay in expectation; wait.
  • To put off going or coming; delay; linger; loiter.
  • To cause to tarry; delay.
  • To wait for.
  • noun Delay: stay.
  • Consisting of tar, or like tar; partaking of the character of tar; smeared with tar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Consisting of, or covered with, tar; like tar.
  • intransitive verb To stay or remain behind; to wait.
  • intransitive verb To delay; to put off going or coming; to loiter.
  • intransitive verb To stay; to abide; to continue; to lodge.
  • transitive verb obsolete To delay; to defer; to put off.
  • transitive verb Archaic To wait for; to stay or stop for.
  • noun obsolete Stay; stop; delay.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Resembling tar.
  • adjective Covered with tar.
  • verb intransitive To delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.
  • verb intransitive To linger in expectation of something or until something is done or happens.
  • verb intransitive To abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
  • verb intransitive To stay somewhere temporarily; to sojourn.
  • noun A sojourn.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be about
  • verb leave slowly and hesitantly
  • adjective having the characteristics of pitch or tar

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English tarien, terien ("to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay"), from Old English tirian, tirgan, tergan ("to worry, exasperate, pain, provoke, excite"), from Proto-Germanic *terganan (“to drag”), from Proto-Indo-European *deregʰ- (“to pull, tug, irritate”). Cognate with Dutch tergen ("to provoke"), German zergen ("to vex, irritate, provoke"), Russian дергать (dergat', "to pull, yank, jerk, pluck up").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

tar +‎ -y

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Examples

  • This work of organization was fitly entrusted to St. John, who for so many years was left upon earth to "tarry" for the Lord, on Whose Breast he had leaned, and Whose teaching had filled his soul with adoring love, and with those depths of spiritual knowledge which are stored up for us in the "Theological Gospel."

    A Key to the Knowledge of Church History (Ancient) John Henry Blunt

  • By secondary reactions they may yield some furfural, but as they are highly reactive compounds, and most readily condensed, they are for the most part converted into complex 'tarry' products.

    Researches on Cellulose 1895-1900 C. F. Cross

  • He should "tarry" (shebh, imperative from yashabh; here not in the sense of "dwell" but "tarry") just long enough to carry out the injunction laid upon him.

    Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 1892-1972 1942

  • He should "tarry" (shebh, imperative from yashabh; here not in the sense of "dwell" but "tarry") just long enough to carry out the injunction laid upon him.

    Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 1892-1972 1942

  • He admonished them to "tarry" until an enduement came to them.

    The Heart-Cry of Jesus 1898

  • At the word "tarry" Olga could not refrain from tears.

    The Witch and other stories Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 1882

  • The expression is not, "Give a share to one another," for all the viands brought to the feast were common property, and, therefore, they should "tarry" till all were met to partake together of the common feast of fellowship

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • Christ's charge to John to 'tarry' did not only, as his brethren misinterpreted it, mean that his life was to be continued, but it prescribed the manner of his life.

    Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI Alexander Maclaren 1868

  • But this is the reason why the Lord told his disciples to go back to Jerusalem and to "tarry" there.

    inJesus :: Online Community :: Last posted message 2009

  • Perhaps it involves a courteous protest like, "please don't talk about leaving," or else the conclusion might run, "tarry" (A.

    Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1 1892-1972 1942

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