Word of the Day

: February 17, 2010

tare

noun TAIR

What It Means

1 : a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container; also : the weight of the container

2 : counterweight

tare in Context

Before charging us for the blueberries we'd picked, the attendant at Annie's Fields deducted the tare from the weight of the filled buckets.

Did You Know?

"Tare" came to English by way of Middle French from the Old Italian term "tara," which is itself from the Arabic word "ṭarḥa," meaning "that which is removed." The first known written record of the word "tare" in English is found in the 1489 naval inventories of Britain's King Henry VII. The records show two barrels of gunpowder weighing, "besides the tare," 500 pounds. When used of vehicles, "tare weight" refers to a vehicle's weight exclusive of any load. The term "tare" is closely tied to "net weight," which is defined as "weight excluding all tare."