tangle 
(USD 
i a,,^ ...L.~ .J who tanked must untie 
The embroilment. Browning, Ring and Book, II. 28. 
= Syn 1 To entangle, intertwine, snarl (up). 
II. intraiin. To be entangled or united con- 
fusedly. 
' The cavern wild with tangling roots. 
ondency. 
acquired flavor, sound, or other characteristic. 
A flavour coarse and tangey. Ure, Diet. , III. 189. 
tan-house (tan'hous), n. A building in which 
tan-bark is stored. 
tanier, ". See tannier. 
tanist (tan'ist), n. [Also tanaist ; < Ir. Gael. 
tanaiste, a lord, the governor of a country, the 
presumptive or apparent heir to a lord, < tinnix, 
dominion, lordship, < tan, country, region, ter- 
ritory.] The chief, or holder of the lands and 
honors, in certain Celtic races; sometimes, the 
chief's chosen successor. See tanistry. 
Every Signory or Chiefry, with the portion of land which 
passed with it, went without partition to the Tanist, who 
always came in by election or with the strong hand, and 
not by descent. Maine, Early Hist, of Institutions, p. 185. 
tanistiht, [Repr. Ir. tanaisteachd, tanistry, 
h'v'the travelle^Trom the'eastfafter passing over a thou- < tanaiste, tanist: see tanist.'] Same as tanin- 
sand miles in width of the central valley, in longitude 103 t 
if he strikes the Black Hills in latitude 44, or in 105 if he 
follows up the Platte and finds himself at the base of the 
Rocky Mountains proper. 
J. D. Whitney, The Yosemite Book, p. 24. 
While these thoughts were tangling in my brain, an 
outer force cut the knot. T. Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme, vii. 
tangle 2 (tang'gl), . [< tangle*, v .] 1. A snarl 
of threads or other things united confusedly, 
or so interwoven as not to be easily disengaged. 
Were it not better done, aa others use, 
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, 
Or with the tangles of Neajra's hair? 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 69. 
2. A device used in dredging, for sweeping the 
sea-bed in order to obtain delicate forms of ma- 
rine life, too small or frangible to be obtained 
by ordinary dredging. It consists of a bar supported 
oii runners, and serving to drag after it a series of masses 
of hemp, each of which is a sort of mop which entangles 
the more minute and delicate forms of marine life without 
injuring them. 
3. A perplexity or embarrassment; a compli- 
cation. 
The judge puts his mind to the tangle of contradictions 
in the case. Emerson, Courage. 
Forest tangle, a virgin forest encumbered or rendered 
impassable by underwood, vines, creepers, or fallen trees ; 
a jungle. 
tangle 3 t, [ME. tanggyl; origin obscure. Cf . 
tanglesome*.'] Froward; peevish. [Rare.] 
Tanqqvl, or froward and angry. Bilosus, felleus. 
Prompt. Pan., p. 486. 
tangleberry (tang'gl-ber"i), n. The dangle- 
berry: same as Uuetangle. 
tangle-fish (tang'gl-fish), n. The needle-fish, 
Xyngnathiis acus. See cut under pipefish. En- 
cyc. Diet. 
holder of honors and lands, held them only for 
life, and his successor was fixed by election. 
According to this custom the right of succession was not 
in the individual, but in the family to which he belonged 
that is, succession was hereditary in the family, but elec- 
tive in the individual. The primitive intention seems to 
have been that the inheritance should descend to the 
oldest or the most worthy of the blood and name of the 
deceased. This was in reality giving it to the strongest, 
and the practice often occasioned bloody wars in families. 
I have already called it Tanistry, the system under which 
the grown men of the tribe elect their own chief, general- 
ly choosing a successor before the ruling chief dies, and 
almost invariably electing his brother or nearest mature 
male relative. Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 145. 
Soon after the accession of James I. a decision of the 
King's Bench, which had the force of law, pronounced 
the whole system of tanistry and gavelkind, which had 
grown out of the Brehon law, and which had hitherto 
been recognised in a great part of the island, to be illegal. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., vi. 
tanite (tan'it), n. [< tan* + -ite*: a trade- 
name.] A cement of emery and some bind- 
ing substance, used as a material for molding, 
grinding-wheels, disks, laps, etc. E. H. Knight. 
Tanite Wheel, a grinding-wheel of emery combined 
with tanite. 
tankard-turnip 
They tanked her cruel, they did ; and kept her under 
water till she was nigh gone. C. Keade, Hard Cash, xli. 
tank'-' (tangk), n. [< ME. tank; origin obscure.] 
The wild parsnip, Peucedanum (Pastinaca) sati- 
rinn. [Old or prov. Eng.] 
tank :! (tangk), n. A variant of tang'* and tang-. 
Tanka, Tankia (tan'ka, tan'kyii), n. [Chinese, 
literally, ' the Tan family or tribe ' ; < Tan, an 
aboriginal tribe who formerly occupied the re- 
gion lying to the south and west of the Meiling 
(mountains) in southern China, + kia (pro- 
nounced ka in Canton), family, people.] The 
boat population of Canton in southern China, 
the descendants of an aboriginal tribe named 
Tan, who were driven by the advance of Chi- 
nese civilization to live in boats upon the river, 
and who have for centuries been forbidden to 
live on the land. "Since 1730 they have been per- 
mitted to settle in villages in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the river, but are still excluded from competition 
for official honours, and are forbidden by custom from in- 
termarrying with the rest of the people. " (Giles, Glossary 
tanka-boat. tankia-boat (tan'ka-, tan'kyij- 
bot), n. The kind of boat used by the Tankia 
as a dwelling by night and a passenger-boat by 
day. These boats are about 25 feet in length, and contain 
only one room, but are fitted with movable mats which 
cover the whole vessel at night. As passenger-boats they 
are usually rowed by women. Sometimes called egg- 
boat, from tan, 'egg,' the Chinese character used in writ- 
ing the tribal name Tan. 
tankage (tangk'aj), n. [< tank* + -age."] 1. 
The act or process of storing oil, etc., in a 
tank ; also, the price charged or paid for stor- 
age in a tank ; the capacity of a tank or tanks ; 
quantity, as of oil, that, may be in a tank pi- 
tanks. 2. The waste residue deposited in 
lixiviating-vats or in tanks in which fat is 
rendered. The latter product, dried, is much 
used as a fertilizer. 
A new drier adapted for drying . . . tankage, sewage 
clay, fertilizers, etc. Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. 140. 
tankard (tang'kard), . and n. [< ME. tan- 
kard = JAD.tanckaert(et Ir. tancard, < E.), < 
OF. tanquard, tanquart, a tankard ; origin un- 
known. The notion that the word is < tank* 
+ -ard is wholly untenable.] I. n. A vessel. 
= __ f v u ___ jik'er), n. A bird, the 
turnstone, Strepsilas interpres: so called from 
its habit of searching for food among tangle or 
seawrack. See cut under turnstone. W. Tar- 
rell. [Norfolk, Eng.] 
tanglesome 1 (tang'gl-sum), a. [< tangle' 2 + 
-some.] Tangled; complicated. [Colloq.] 
Things are in such a tanglesome condition. 
The Engineer, LXV. 317. 
tanglesome 2 (tang'gl-sum), a. [< tangle* + 
-some.'] Fretful; discontented; obstinate, fli.il- 
liiocll. [Prov. Eng.] 
tangle-swab (tang'gl-swob), . A mop of hemp 
attached to a tangle used in dredging. 
The handles [of the dredge] were modified in different 
ways, and several tangle-swabs were generally attached to 
the hinder end of the bag. Science, IV. 148. 
tangle-wrack (tang'gl-rak), n. Same as tan- 
gle*, 1. 
t'anglingly (tang'gling-li), adv. In a tangling 
manner. Imp. Diet. 
tangly 1 (tang'gli), a. [< tangle* + -y*.] Cov- 
ered with tangle or seaweed. 
Prone, helpless, on the tangly beach he lay. 
Falconer, Shipwreck, iii. 
tangly 2 (tang'gli), a. [< tangle* + -y*.'] Knot- 
ted; intertwined; intricate; snarly. 
tangram (tan'gram), n. A Chinese puzzle con- 
sisting of a square of wood or other material 
cut into seven pieces of various shapes (five tri- 
angles, a square, and a lozenge), which can be 
combined so as to form a square and a variety 
of other figures. 
tangue, See tang&. 
tanguin, . See tanghin. 
tangum (tang'gum), re. [Also tangham, tanghan; 
said to be native Tibetan.] The Tibet horse, 
Eqtius cabalhis varius, a piebald race or strain 
of horse found wild in Tibet and some other 
parts of Asia. It appears to be related to the Tatar 
horse, and has been supposed to be a primeval or indige- 
nous stock. But the origin of the domestic horse has 
passed out of the memory of man, and all that relates to 
it is conjecture. 
tang-whaup (tang'hwap), n. [< tangS + whaup.] 
The whimbrel, AtMMHUfM pheeopus. [Local, 
British.] 
which have great skill in introducing into the 
fabric any pattern which they may desire, and 
even inscriptions and texts from sacred books, 
etc. S. K. Handbook Indian Arts, II. 82. 
tank 1 (tangk), n. [In local E. use a var. of 
stank* (cf. tamin as related to stamiii); in E. 
Ind. use prob. < Pg. tanque, a tank, pond, pool, 
= Sp. estanque = Pr. estanc, stanc = OF.estang, 
a pond, pool : see stank*, the same word in more 
orig. form. The E. Ind. terms (Marathi tanken, 
Guzerathi tdnkn, tdnki, in Rajputana tunka, a 
reservoir, tank) are prob. independent words, 
whose similarity to the Pg. and E. words is ac- 
cidental.] 1. A pool of deep water, natural or 
artificial. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.] 
Here . . . the surface is smooth sandstone, with here 
and there great hollows filled with rain-water. These 
places are called tanks by the ranchmen, and are the 
only water-supply for deer or cattle on the mesa. 
Amer. Antiquarian, XII. 201. 
2. A large vessel or structure of wood or metal 
designed to hold water, oil, or other liquid, or 
a gas. Specifically (a) That part of a locomotive ten- 
der which contains the water. See cut under passenger- 
engine. (&) A stationary reservoir from which the tank of 
a tender is filled, (c) A cistern for storing water on board 
ship, (d) The cistern of a gas-holder, in which the lower 
edge of the inverted chamber is beneath the water-sur- 
face, forming a seal for the gas. See cut under gasome- 
ter, (e) Any chamber or vessel for storing oil, molasses, 
or the like. 
3. In the East Indies, a storage-place for water ; 
a reservoir. Such tanks are used especially for irriga- 
tion ; but they also serve for storage of water for all pur- 
poses during the dry season. Some of them are of great 
extent, and form lakes, conforming to the natural shape 
of the ground and covering thousands of acres; others 
are of square or other regular shape, and form decorative 
features in pleasure-grounds. Cable-tank, u large cylin- 
drical tank of sheet-iron used in telegraph-cable factories 
for storing the cable. Filtering-tank. Sameas filter^, 2. 
Tank drama, a sensational or cheap meloclrama in 
which water is employed in the scenic effects, as in repre- 
senting a rescue from drowning. [Theatrical slang.] 
tank 1 (tangk), !'. t. [< tank*, n.] 1. To throw, 
or cause to flow, into a tank. 
If this [water] can be tanked or weighed, no material 
error should occur. Sci. Amer. Supp., p. 9130. 
2. To put or plunge into a tank ; bathe or steep 
in a tank. 
Tankard presented to the first white person bom in New 
Netherlands. 
larger than a common drinking-cup, used for 
holding liquor. The word is used loosely, but gener- 
ally implies a covered vessel holding a quart or more, and 
is commonly associated with the tap-room of an inn. 
One of the Priests was to go with a large Golden Tankard 
to the Fountain of Siloam, and, having filled it with water, 
he brings it up to the water-gate over against the Altar. 
Staiingfeet, Sermons, I. ix. 
Our coachman . . . eschews hot potations, and addicts 
himself to a tankard of ale. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 4. 
Cool tankard. See cool-tankard. Sapling-tankard. 
Same as stave-tankard. 
H. a. Of or pertaining to a tankard ; hence, 
convivial; festive; jovial. [Rare.] 
No marvell if he brought us home nothing but a meer 
tankard drollery. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
tankard-bearert (tang'kard-bSr'er), n. One 
who, when London was very imperfectly sup- 
plied with water, fetched water in tankards, 
holding two or three gallons, from the conduits 
and pumps in the street. Such persons were 
compelled to wait their turn to draw water. 
A gentleman of your sort, parts, carriage, and estima- 
tion to talk of your turn in this company, and to me alone, 
like a tankard-bearer at a conduit ! fie ! 
B. Jomon, Every Man in his Humour, l. i 
tankard-turnip (tang 'kiird -ter "nip), n. A 
name given to such common field-turnips as 
have the root oblong and in general rising a 
good deal above the surface of the ground. 
There are several varieties. [Prov. Eng.] 
