ˈTarmac, n.
[Abbrev. f. tar macadam.]
The registered trade-mark of a kind of tar macadam consisting of iron slag impregnated with tar and creosote; also designating a surface made of tar macadam. Now freq. with lower-case initial. the tarmac (colloq.), the airfield or runway.
| 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 (E. Afr. ed.) Feb. 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 Telegraph (Colour Suppl.) 28 Nov. 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. |