Tan

Tan, tan, n. bark of the oak, &c., bruised and broken for tanning: a yellowish-brown colour.—v.t. to convert skins and hides into leather by steeping in vegetable solutions containing tannin: to make brown or tawny: to take the freshness from: (coll.) to beat.—v.i. to become tanned:—pr.p. tan′ning; pa.t. and pa.p. tanned.—n.pl. Tan′-balls, the spent bark of the tanner's yard pressed into lumps, which harden on drying, and serve for fuel.—n. Tan′-bed (hort.), a bark-bed.—adj. Tan′-col′oured, of the colour of tan.—ns. Tan′ling (Shak.), one tanned or scorched by the heat of the sun; Tan′-liq′uor, -ooze, an aqueous extract of tan-bark.—adj. Tan′nable.—ns. Tan′nage, act of tanning: browning from exposure to the sun: the act of steeping cast slabs of artificial marble in a solution of potash alum to harden it and make it insoluble; Tan′ner, one who tans; Tan′nery, a place for tanning; Tan′ning, the art of tanning or converting into leather; Tan′-pit, -vat, a vat in which hides are steeped in liquor with tan; Tan′-yard, a yard or enclosure where leather is tanned. [A.S. tannian; cf. Dut. tanen, or prob. O. Fr. tan—Bret. tann, an oak. If the latter, then Old High Ger. tanna (Ger. tanne), fir, oak, is borrowed.]