tarty

comparative tartier · superlative tartiest

1. UKslangLike a tart (promiscuous woman); slutty, whorish.

   Atwood's Edible Woman offers a brilliant analysis of woman as consumable in consumer capitalism: when Marian turns out in a tarty hairdo and red dress...

   1991, Gayle Greene, Changing the Story: Feminist Fiction and the Tradition

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   The vice trust, with equal ingenuity, sent prostitutes dressed in their tartiest outfits into respectable neighborhoods to inquire about apartments for rent.

   2004, Thomas A Reppetto, American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power

   Ravey Davy's flashy, trashy signature style doesn't seem to be quite as big a hit among the Boujis Boozers as I might have hoped. Maybe it'll get tartier as the season progresses and the climate allows for rising hemlines.

   2007 February 24, Polly Vernon, “Posh versus grunge - the new bar wars”, in The Guardian

2. Somewhat tart.

   Now, I lets mine boil a bit longer than Lizzy, to sweeten the tarty taste.

   1999, Donna Morrissey, Kit’s Law, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Mariner Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 242

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   Because of its tarty taste, and the fact that (in animal experiments) it has shown to have a toxic effect, for culinary uses the rape oil is ‘hardened’ (hydrogenation of the double bond!).

   2005, Dietrich Frohne, Hans Jürgen Pfänder, translated by Inge Alford, Poisonous Plants: A Handbook for Doctors, Pharmacists, Toxicologists, Biologists and Veterinarians, 2nd edition, Portland, Ore.: Timber Press, →ISBN, page 109, column 3

   I mean, sure, the gummy cherry might have a well-balanced sweet and tarty taste, but the gummy frog has a far denser texture, which requires at least three times more chewing than the cherry and is therefore, of the two, a far better value.

   2009, Kathleen Lane, Nana Cracks the Case!, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, pages 81–82