BBC Radio 4 - Seriously..., Seriously... - A brief history of the tarpaulin (2024)

FAQs

Why is tarpaulin called tarpaulin? ›

In early seafaring communities, sailors were known as tarpaulins because they slept on deck under a strong fabric waterproofed with tar. The word tarpaulin comes from tar and palling—another 17th Century name for sheets used to cover objects on ships.

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Householdtar‧pau‧lin /tɑːˈpɔːlɪn $ tɑːrˈpɒː-/ especially British English, tarp /tɑːp $ tɑːrp/ American English noun [countable, uncountable] a large heavy cloth or piece of thick plastic that water will not pass through, used to keep rain off thingsExamples ...

Tarpaulins are often called tarps for short. The word probably includes tar because of the original method for waterproofing a tarpaulin, which involved spreading tar on a heavy piece of canvas.

The tarp was used mainly at sea as a way to protect sailors and the items they transported across the seas. The original name for the tarp was the “tarpaulin.” This name came from combining the two words “tar” and “pall.” The pall was the fabric used by the sailors as a cover. The tarp moved inland.

A tarpaulin (/tɑːrˈpɔːlɪn/ tar-PAW-lin, also US: /ˈtɑːrpəlɪn/) or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene.

Tarp is usually lighter and not coated, while tarpaulin is heavier and often made from canvas or another thick material that's been treated with a waterproof coating.

The word “pyjamas” is British English; “pajamas” is American. The 19th-century philologist Noah Webster published the first American-English dictionary and changed the spelling of many words to what seemed more sensible to him.

The term duvet is mainly British, especially in reference to the bedding; rarely used in US English, it often refers to the cover. Sleepers often use a duvet without a top bed sheet, as the duvet cover can readily be removed and laundered as often as the bottom sheet.

An umbrella may also be called a brolly (UK slang), parapluie (nineteenth century, French origin), rainshade, gamp (British, informal, dated), or bumbershoot (rare, facetious American slang). When used for snow, it is called a paraneige.

In the United States the term "pigs in a blanket" typically refers to hot dogs in croissant dough, but may include Vienna sausages, co*cktail or breakfast/link sausages baked inside biscuit dough or croissant dough.

What do Americans call fanny packs? ›

A waist bag, fanny pack, belt bag, moon bag, belly bag (American English), or bumbag (British English) is a small fabric pouch worn like a belt around the waist by use of a strap above the hips that is secured usually with some sort of buckle.

Food plastic wrap, also known as cling film, food wrap, and saran wrap, is a thin plastic film commonly used for sealing and securing food items in containers to keep fresh.

The economies of do-it-yourself and of disaster relief mesh along the flexible, but short-lived, weave of blue tarps. Blue denotes cheap. Tarp producers follow an informal, though chromatically charged, rating spectrum, from light-duty blue to green to silver to super-heavy-duty brown.

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Because these Gray Heavy Duty Tarps are made of 100 percent silicone-coated polyester they offer industrial strength, important breathability, and incredible tensile durability than those other average Canvas Tarp products.

A grommet is a ring or edge strip inserted into a hole through thin material, typically a sheet of textile fabric, sheet metal or composite of carbon fiber, wood or honeycomb. Grommets are generally flared or collared on each side to keep them in place, and are often made of metal, plastic, or rubber.

A small grommet may also be called an eyelet, used for example on shoes, tarps and sails for lacing purposes. Grommets in electrical applications are referred to as "insulating bushings". Most common are molded rubber bushings that are inserted into hole diameters up to 2″ (51 mm).

The earliest known use of the noun tarpaulin is in the early 1600s. OED's earliest evidence for tarpaulin is from 1607, in the writing of Ben Jonson, poet and playwright. tarpaulin is perhaps formed within English, by derivation.

/tɑːrˈpɔːlɪn/ (also North American English, informal tarp) [countable, uncountable] ​a large sheet made of heavy waterproof material, used to cover things with and to keep rain off.