tar paper

noun

: a heavy paper coated or impregnated with tar for use especially in building

Examples of tar paper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The towers are sandwiched between office complexes and a deteriorating downtown dotted with tar paper roofs sprawls outside its back windows. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025

An old chicken coop occupied one corner of the yard, a sturdy wooden shack wrapped in tar paper, paying tribute to her rustic ancestry. —Jim Meddleton, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024

From then on, the jewels would be locked in a black leather case measuring 39 by 31 by 20 centimeters, then covered with tar paper and sealed with 11 seals. —Elisabetta Caprotti, Vogue, 21 Feb. 2024

The company, based in Mesa, Ariz., is holding off on hiring contractors until the cost of materials like shingles and tar paper come back down. —Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 2 Sep. 2023

Apply tar paper as a waterproof base over the plywood roof, then use roofing nails to secure the shingles to the plywood. —Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Aug. 2023

Conditions at the time were squalid: people in the neighborhoods surrounding Madrid, Barcelona, Gijón, and Bilbao lived in shacks made of wood, tar paper, and corrugated tin; those fortunate enough to find steady work often resided in boardinghouses. —Adrian Nathan West, The New York Review of Books, 7 Sep. 2022

Today, a raggedy blue tarp dangles on the side of the building, while ripped brick red tar paper exposes rotted and faded wooden walls. —Ernie Suggs, ajc, 16 Nov. 2022

That same year, a two-room tar paper shack with no insulation or plumbing cost $60 a month (about $730 today). —David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 26 June 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tar paper

• newspaper
• notepaper
• sandpaper
• skyscraper
• wallpaper
• wastepaper
• caper
• raper
• scraper
• shaper
• taper
• vapor

Kids Definition

tar paper

noun

: a heavy paper coated with or soaked in tar for use especially in building