Tarmacn.
A kind of tar macadam consisting of iron slag impregnated with tar and creosote; also designating a surface made of tar macadam. Now frequently with lower-case initial. the tarmac (colloquial): the airfield or runway.A proprietary name in the United Kingdom.
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society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > runway
the tarmac1903
runway1908
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > processed resinous materials > [noun] > tar > tar-based compositions for roads
macadam1826
mac1851
tarmacadam1882
tar-paving1883
Tarmac1903
Tarvia1912
tar1934
1903 Trades Mark Jrnl. 1 July Class 17. Tarmac.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 4/2 Mr. Montagu suggested..the making of all roads..by the Tarmac process.
1905 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 Jan. 110/2 The road surveyor..appears to have almost solved the problem of finding a dustless, a rainproof, and a cheap material by the employment of an iron-slag mixed with tar. This material he calls tarmac.
1905 Times 1 Aug. 14/2 He suggests that the club..should entirely remake some..stretch of road near London with Tarmac.
1919 C. Roberts Training Airmen v. 37 An open, wind-swept place... A broad strip of tarmac on which various aeroplanes are receiving the solicitous attention... That is the sight which quickens the cadet's pulse.
1921 Flight 11 Aug. 544/2 Aerodrome improvements..are now being carried out on the tarmac. Work has been commenced on the laying of a tarmac road from the sheds to the Customs enclosure.
1931 Observer 10 May 5 The lanes that he once used to choose have now been straightened out into fine, noble tarmac highways.
1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway iv. 109 Samuelson met them on the tarmac.
1970 Drum (Johannesburg) Feb. (E. Afr. ed.) 31/3 One travels on tarmac the whole way to the Kenya border on some of the finest road surfaces on the continent.
1976 Sunday Tel. 28 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 57/2 A speed establishd with the car on dry Tarmac.
1979 J. Raban Arabia through Looking Glass iii. 67 People in gold-trimmed robes stepped off aeroplanes and were embraced by similarly robed officials who stood in waiting on the tarmac.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
tarmacv.
/ˈtɑːmak/, U.S. /ˈtɑrˌmæk/, East African English /ˈtamak/ To cover with tar macadam. Chiefly passive or as participial adjective, with spelling tarmac(c)ed, tarmacked. Hence Cf. tarmacadam vb. at tarmacadam n. Derivatives.
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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > [adjective] > paved > with specific material
pebble-paved1597
flaggeda1661
pebble-paven1821
Macadamite1824
asphalted1845
cobbled1853
cobblestoned1858
causewayed1865
stoned1869
kidney-paved1889
cobbly1891
stone-flagged1904
tar-sealed1928
tarmacked1966
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > pave or build roads [verb (transitive)] > pave > pave with specific material
causeya1552
flag1615
causeway1744
metal1806
blind1812
macadamize1823
slab1832
flint1834
pebble1835
asphalt1872
concrete1875
cube1887
cobble1888
block1891
wood-block1908
tarmacadam1910
tarviate1926
tarmac1966
1966 C. Wilson Glass Cage ii. 90 It was a row of small, semi-detached modern houses with front gardens, and the road had not yet been fully tarmacced.
1972 ‘R. Gordon’ Doctor on Brain xiv. 97 All that lies before me is a well-tarmacked dead straight motorway leading to the grave.
1974 New Society 14 Mar. 627/3 Ponds which are filled in and reclaimed by farmers, or tarmacked for car parking by the local pub.
1977 Belfast Tel. 28 Feb. 13/1 (advt.) Now's the time to have your driveways Bitmaced or Tarmaced.
1981 E. North Dames vii. 129 The tarmacked runway.
Derivatives
ˈtarmacing n.
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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > [noun] > paving > with specific material
gravelling1577
causeying1596
flagging1656
pitching1702
ruderation1730
macadamization1822
macadamizing1824
asphalting1840
blinding1843
causewaying1876
bouldering1880
metalling1885
blacktopping1947
tarmacing1975
1975 New Society 18 Dec. 663/3 The aesthetic and environmental objections to the tarmacing of 15 odd acres of land.
Draft additions June 2022
intransitive. East African. To walk the streets looking for work; to seek employment, to job hunt.
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1982 South Aug. 25/1 About 250,000 school leavers a year enter the job market and teachers point to the growing frustration of young people who are ‘tarmacking’—walking the streets in search of work.
2010 Nation (Nairobi) (Nexis) 22 Feb. Born the second child in a family of eight in 1950 in Ikolomani, Kakamega, he recalls having ‘tarmacked’ for sometime before he landed at Parliament.
2019 @wakagere 7 Feb. in twitter.com (accessed 4 July 2019) It's sad for graduates to tarmac for this long, Magunas supermarket is opening a new branch in Utawala, you can try if you may be interested in supermarket jobs.
Draft additions June 2022
tarmacking n. East African the action or process of walking the streets looking for work; job hunting.
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1982 Afr. Stud. Curriculum Devel. & Eval. No. 67. 7 Many O-level drop-outs are doomed to ‘tarmacking’ and unskilled labour because they have certificates but no practical skills.
2019 @zumikenya 3 June in twitter.com (accessed 4 July 2019) Tarmacking can be tough! Who can estimate the number of job applications they've made?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1903
v.1966