tarmac

English

Plane on a tarmac

Etymology

Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar +‎ macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

tarmac (countable and uncountable, plural tarmacs)

1. Tarmacadam.

   Coordinate term: asphalt concrete

2. (loosely, UK, Ireland, Canada) Any bituminous road surfacing material.

   Synonym: asphalt

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎^[1]:

     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, […] .

3. (UK, Ireland, Canada) The driveable surface of a road.
4. (informal, aviation) The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.
   • 1954, Ian Fleming, “The Red Carpet”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 1:

     As he walked across the tarmac in the bitter January wind he saw his own name going over the network: BOND, JAMES. BRITISH DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT 0094567, the short wait and the replies coming back on the different machines: NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE. And then, from the FBI: POSITIVE AWAIT CHECK.

Descendants

• → Irish: tarmac
• → Maltese: tarmak
• → Welsh: tarmac

Translations

bituminous road surface

• Bulgarian: макадам (bg) m (makadam)
• Catalan: asfalt (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 柏油路 (zh) (bóyóulù), 瀝青路 / 沥青路 (lìqīnglù)

• Danish: asfalt (da) c
• Dutch: bitumen (nl) n, asfalt (nl) n
• Finnish: öljysora (fi), asfaltti (fi), bitumisora
• French: tarmac (fr) m
• German: Asphalt (de) m, Teermakadam m or n
• Hungarian: aszfaltburkolat (hu), aszfaltpálya, aszfaltút (hu), aszfaltozott/kátrányos út/útburkolat/burkolat
• Icelandic: malbik (is) n, asfalt (is) n
• Irish: tarmac m, tarramhacadam m
• Italian: asfalto (it) m
• Japanese: ターマック (tāmakku), アスファルト舗装路 (asufaruto hosōro)
• Korean: 타맥 (tamaek)
• Māori: papatau
• Portuguese: asfalto (pt) m, macadame (pt) m
• Russian: гудрони́рованное шоссе́ n (gudronírovannoje šossé), асфа́льт (ru) m (asfálʹt)
• Spanish: asfalto (es) m
• Swahili: lami (sw) class 9
• Swedish: asfalt (sv) c
• Turkish: asfalt (tr)
• Welsh: tarmac m, tarmacadam m

area of an airport, where planes park or maneuver

• Bulgarian: писта (bg) f (pista)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 停機坪 / 停机坪 (ting⁴ gei¹ ping⁴)

  Mandarin: 停机坪 (zh) (tíng jī píng)

• Danish: forplads (da) c
• Finnish: asemataso (fi), platta (fi) (apron), rullaustie (fi) (taxiway)
• French: tarmac (fr) m
• German: Rollfeld (de) n
• Irish: tarmac m
• Polish: betonka (pl) f
• Welsh: tarmac m

See also

• asphalt

Verb

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

1. (UK, Canada) To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.
   • 2008, Valerie Belsey, Exploring Green Lanes in North and North-West Devon‎^[2], →ISBN, 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^[3], →ISBN, 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.

Derived terms

• retarmac
• untarmacked

Anagrams

• amtrac, mactra, ram-cat

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English, a clipping of tarmacadam. Genericized trademark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taʁ.mak/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

tarmac m (plural tarmacs)

1. tarmac (part of airport)

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English tarmac.

Noun

tarmac m (genitive singular tarmac)

1. tarmac

Declension

Declension of tarmac (fourth declension, no plural)

bare forms singular nominative tarmac vocative a tarmac genitive tarmac dative tarmac forms with the definite article singular nominative an tarmac genitive an tarmac dative leis an tarmac don tarmac

Synonyms

• tarramhacadam

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “tarmac”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN