tarry

• tarrow (Scotland)

From Middle English tarien, terien (“to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay”), from Old English tirian, tirġan, terġan (“to worry, exasperate, pain, provoke, excite”), from Proto-Germanic *terganą, *targijaną (“to pull, tease, irritate”), from Proto-Indo-European *deregʰ- (“to pull, tug, irritate”). Cognate with Dutch tergen (“to provoke”), German zergen (“to vex, irritate, provoke”), Norwegian Bokmål terge (“to irritate, provoke”), Russian дергать (dergatʹ, “to pull, yank, jerk, pluck up”). Compare also Walloon tårdjî (“to be late, to be slow, to wait”).

• enPR: tăr'ē, IPA^(key): /ˈtæ.ɹi/
• Rhymes: -æri

tarry (third-person singular simple present tarries, present participle tarrying, simple past and past participle tarried)

1. (intransitive, dated) To delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.

   It is true that the Messiah will come, though he may tarry. (Hitchens quoting translated Maimonides)

2. (intransitive, dated) To linger in expectation of something or until something is done or happens.
3. (intransitive, dated) To abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
4. (intransitive, dated) To stay somewhere temporarily; to sojourn.
5. (transitive, dated) To wait for; to stay or stop for; to allow to linger.
   • Shakespeare

     He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.

   • Sir Walter Scott

     He plodded on, […] tarrying no further question.

• (be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything): forestall, put off; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (linger in expectation of): abide
• (stay or wait, especially longer than planned): hang about, hang around, linger, loiter; See also Thesaurus:tarry
• (stay somewhere temporarily): sojourn, stay, stay over, stop, stop over; See also Thesaurus:sojourn
• (stay or stop for): await, wait on; See also Thesaurus:wait for

tarry (plural tarries)

1. A sojourn.

• (sojourn): stay, stop, stop-over

From Middle English terrie, equivalent to tar +‎ -y.

• enPR: tär'ē, IPA^(key): /ˈtɑːɹi/
• Rhymes: -ɑːri

tarry (comparative tarrier, superlative tarriest)

1. Resembling tar.
2. Covered with tar.

• (resembling tar): pitchy
• (covered with tar): bituminized (treated with tar), pitchy

• “tarry” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967