tarpot

English

Etymology

tar +‎ pot

Noun

tarpot (plural tarpots)

1. A pot used for carrying tar.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd:

     “Oh, that’s it,” said Oak, jumping up, and dismissing for the present his thoughts on poor Fanny. “You are a good boy to run and tell me, Cain, and you shall smell a large plum pudding some day as a treat. But, before we go, Cainy, bring the tarpot, and we’ll mark this lot and have done with ’em.”

   • 1964, Robert Carse, The seafarers: a history of maritime America, 1620-1820:

     Tarpots bubbled over driftwood fires where men calked the seams of smacks and shallops and patched their dugout canoes.