Tarannon shale 
Tarannon shale. See *ftte 2 . 
tarantt,"- A battering-ram : a medieval term, 
tarantara (tar -an -tar 'a), n. [Imitative; cf. 
tarataiitnra and tantara.'] Same as taratan- 
tara and tantara. 
I would have blown a trumpet tarantara. 
Randolph, Hey for Honesty, i. -1. 
tarantass (tar-an-tas'), . [Russ. tarantasu.] 
A large four-wheeled Russian vehicle, with a 
boat-shaped body fixed to two parallel longi- 
6188 
tudinal wooden bars, in place of springs, and a 
leather top or hood. It is commonly without 
seats, and is drawn by three horses. 
tarantella (tar-an-tel'a), . [Also tarentella; 
= F. tarantelle, < It. tarantella, a dance so called 
(also a tarantula), deriving its name from the 
city of Tarcmto, < L. Tarentum, Tarentum. Cf. 
tarantula.] 1. A rapid, whirlingdance for one 
couple, originating in southern Italy and spe- 
cially common in the sixteenth century, when 
it was popularly supposed to be a remedy for 
tarantism. 2. Music for such a dance, or in 
its rhythm, which in early examples was quad- 
ruple, but is now sextuple and very quick. It 
is usually characterized by sharp transitions 
from major to minor. 
tarantelle (tar-an-tel'), [< F. tarantelle : 
see tarantella."] Same as tarantella. 
tarantism (tar'an-tizm), n. [Also tarentism; 
as It. Taranto, "Tarentum (see tarantula and 
tarantella), + -ism.'] A dancing mania; specifi- 
cally and originally, a dancing mania of the 
south of Italy in those who had been bitten by 
a tarantula, or thought they had been, anil their 
imitators. 
When the heat of the sun begins to burn more fiercely, 
. . . the subjects of Tarantism perceive the gradually ap- 
proaching recandescence of the poisoning. 
0. W. Holmes, A Mortal Antipathy, xiv. 
tarantismus (tar-an-tis'mus), n. [NL.] Same 
as tarantism. 
tarantula (ta-ran'tu-la), . [Also tarentula; 
= F. tarentule = Sp. tarantula = Pg. tarantula, 
< It. tarantola, a large spider so called, whose 
sting, in popular superstition, produced a dis- 
ease, called tarantism. which could be cured 
only by music or dancing ; also applied to a 
lizard or serpent, and to a fish; < Taranto, < L. 
Tarentum, < Or. Td/xzf (Tapavr-), Tarentum, a 
town in the south of Italy.] 1. A large wolf- 
spider of southern Europe, Lyeosa tarantula or 
Tarantula apulise, whose bite was fabled to 
cause tarantism; hence, any similar spider of 
Tardieu's spots 
Ar. or Pers. origin; cf. Pers. turkliashqvn, wild 
endive (Richardson), and tartubgSq (for tarash- 
3w ?), wild succory, dandelion f (Devic).] 1. 
A genus of composite plants, of the tribe Ci- 
choriacese and subtribe Eypoclicerideee. it is 
characterized by solitary flower-heads with a calyculate 
involucre, a naked receptacle, copious simple pappus, 
and long-beakud achenes. About 40 species have been 
described, by some reduced to 10, widely dispersed through 
temperate and colder regions, especially northern, but 
Nest of a Tarantula {Lycosa nidi/ex). 
the family Lycosidee (which see), the species of 
which are numerous. See also cuts in next 
column. 
Divers sorts of tarantulas, being a monstrous spider with 
lark-like clawes, and somewhat bigger. 
Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 4, 1645. 
2. Any one of the great hairy spiders of the 
warmer parts of America ; a bird-spider or crab- 
spider; any species of Mygale, or of some al- 
lied genus. See cuts under falx and Mygale. 
3. [cop.] [NL.] An old genus of spiders, for- 
merly reputed to be poisonous, belonging to 
the family Lycosidee, and now usually merged 
Tarantula (Lyeosa pikei), female. 
in the genus Lyeosa. It rested on such species 
as T. apulise of southern Europe, now known as 
Lyeosa tarantula. See def. 1. 4f. leap.'] [NL.] 
A genus of spider-like scorpions. As used by early 
writers, after labricius, it included the genera Phrynwt 
and Theli/phonia, now constituting the families Phrynidse. 
and Tlielyphonidee, and the order Phrynida or Pedipalpi. 
There is great possibility of confounding this genus 
[Tarantula] with the famous Tarentula [of the genus Ly- 
cosa] . . . among the spiders. 
J. 0. Westwood (ed. Ouvier, 1849, p. 485). 
Tarantula dance. Same as tarantella, 1. 
tarantula-killer (ta-ran'tu-la-kiFer), n. A 
large wasp, as Pompilus formosus, which in 
southwestern parts of the United States kills 
the tarantula (Mygale) of that region. The wasp 
makes a subterraneous nest or burrow, provisioning it 
with the spider, which is paralyzed, but not killed, by 
stinging ; an egg is deposited, and the larva which emerges 
subsists on the body of the spider until it is fully grown. 
tarantular (ta-ran'tu-lar), a. [< tarantula + 
-ar 3 .] Pertaining to or characteristic of the 
tarantula. 
About the same season of the year at which the taran- 
tular poisoning took place he is liable to certain nervous 
seizures. 0. W. Holmes, A Mortal Antipathy, )dv. 
tarantulated (ta-ran'tu-la-ted), a. [< *taran- 
tulate (< It. tarantolato, bitten by a tarantula).] 
Bitten by a tarantula; suffering from taran- 
tism. 
To music's pipe the passions dance ; 
Motions unwill'd its pow'rs have shewn, 
Tarantulated by a tune. M. Green, The Spleen. 
tarapatch (tar'a-pach), . A stringed musical 
instrument used in the Sandwich Islands. 
This guitar, or tarepatch, he took from its nail, . . . and 
stepped out on the balcony. Scribner's Mag., IX. 283. 
taraquira (tar-a-ke'ra), n. Same as taraguira, 1. 
Imp. Diet. 
taratantara (tar"a-tan-tar'a), n. or adv. [Also 
taratantarra, = It. tara tantara (Florio), < L. 
taratantara (Ennius in Priscian), a word imi- 
tative of the sound of a trumpet; cf. tantara, 
tarantara. Cf. also It. tarapata, imitative of 
the sound of a drum.] A word imitative of 
the sound of a trumpet: used indifferently as 
a noun or as an adverb. 
Let drums beat on, trumpets sound taratantarra. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 380. 
taraxacin (ta-rak'sa-sin), n. [< Taraxacum + 
-i 2 .] A crystallizable substance extracted 
from the dandelion, on which the diuretic and 
tonic properties of its rootstock probably de- 
pend. 
Taraxacum (ta-rak'sa-kum), n. [NL. (Haller, 
1742), also Taraxacon ; also, in a form given 
as Ar., tarasaeon, a kind of succory; prob. of 
Dandelion (Taraxafit 
also occurring in the southern hemisphere and sometimes 
in the tropics. They are mostly stemless herbs, bearing 
a rosette of radical leaves which are entire or variously 
toothed, and a leafless scape crowned by a single broad 
yellow flower-head, or rarely, by terminal branching, pro- 
ducing two or three heads. The only North American 
species is the polymorphous T. oficinale, the dandelion 
(which see). See also cuts under runcinate, pappus, and 
receptacle. 
2. [I. c.] A plant of this genus, or a drug pre- 
pared from it. 
You are bilious, my good man. Go and pay a guinea to 
one of the doctors in those houses. . . . He will prescribe 
taraxacum for you, or pil : hydrarg. 
Thackeray, Philip, ii. 
TaraxippOS (tar-ak-sip'os), n. [< Gr. rapoffjnro?, 
a pillar at the turning-point of the course (see 
def.), lit. 'frightening horses,' an epithet of 
Poseidon, < rapaaaeiv, trouble, confound, fright- 
en, + wnrof, a horse.] In Gr. antiq., a pillar or 
altar at the turning-point of the course in the 
hippodrome at Olympia, which was believed 
mysteriously to terrify the competing horses, 
and thus cause the frequent accidents at this 
point of the course. 
taraxis (ta-rak'sis), . [NL., = F. taraxis, < Gr. 
rdpnftf, trouble, < rapaaaeiv, trouble, confound, 
confuse.] A slight inflammation of the eye. 
tar-board (tar'bord), n. 1. A coarse, stout kind 
of millboard, made of pieces of tarred rope, etc. 
2. A building-paper saturated with tar. 
tarboggint(tiir-bog'in), n. Same as toboggan. 
tarboosh (tar-b6sb/), . [Also, as F., tarboucne; 
< Ar. tarbiifth, tarbamh.] A 
cap of cloth or felt, nearly 
always red, and having 
a tassel, usually of dark- 
blue silk, at the crown. 
It is worn by the men of all 
Moslem nations (except the 
desert tribes). It differs slight- 
ly in shape in Turkey (see fez) 
and in Egypt, the Barbary 
States, etc. It forms the inner Tarboosh, 
part of the turban. 
He dresses like a beggar, with the dirtiest tarboosh upon 
his tufty poll, and only a cotton shirt over his sooty skin. 
K. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 109. 
tar-box (tiir'boks), n. A box containing tar, 
carried by shepherds for anointing sores on 
sheep. 
My scrip, my tar-box, hook, and coat, will prove 
But a thin purchase. Massinger, Bashful Lover, iii. 1. 
tar-brush (tiir'brush), . A brush with which 
tar is applied To have a touch of the tar-brush, 
to have a dash of dark or black blood in the veins, show- 
ing in the color of the skin : a term of contempt from the 
West Indies. 
tarcelt, Same as tercel. 
tardamente (tar-da-men'te), adr. [It., < tar- 
do, slow: see tardy.] In music, slowly. 
tardando (tar-dan'do), a. [It., ppr. of tardare, 
go slow, < tardo, slow: see tardy.'] In music, 
same as ritardando. 
tardationt (tar-da'shon), n. [< L. tardutio(n-), 
slowness, < tardare, pp. tardatus, hinder, delay, 
< tardus, slow, tardy : see tardy.] The act of re- 
tarding or delaying ; retardation. Bailey, 1727. 
Tardieu's spots. Punctiform stibpleural ec- 
chymoses, as indicating death by suffocation: 
