tar-and-feather

A form of tar and feather — To cover (a person) in sticky tar, then cover in feathers which stick to the tar; an archaic means of humiliating a person.

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Meanings

verbtar-and-feather (third-person singular simple present tar-and-feathers or tars-and-feathers, present participle tar-and-feathering or tarring-and-feathering, simple past and past participle tar-and-feathered or tarred-and-feathered)

present singular third person tar-and-feathers · present singular third person tars-and-feathers · participle present tar-and-feathering · participle present tarring-and-feathering · participle past tar-and-feathered · past tar-and-feathered · participle past tarred-and-feathered · past tarred-and-feathered

  1. alternativeAlternative form of tar and feather.

    The villagers had a strong desire to tar-and-feather Injun Joe and ride him on a rail, for body-snatching, but so formidable was his character that nobody could be found who was willing to take the lead in the matter, so it was dropped

    1884, Mark Twain, chapter XI, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Cite this entry
APA

tar-and-feather. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar-and-feather

MLA

“tar-and-feather.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar-and-feather. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tar-and-feather,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar-and-feather.

Source: tar-and-feather on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.