tart

Meaning

Adj

1. Sharp to the taste; acid; sour.
2. high or too high in acidity.
3. Sharp; keen; severe.

Noun

1. A type of small open pie, or piece of pastry, now typically containing jelly (US) / jam (UK) or conserve, or sometimes other fillings (chocolate, custard, egg, butter, historically even meat or other savory fillings).
2. A melt (block of wax for use in a tart burner).

Noun

1. (slang) A prostitute.
2. (slang) Any woman with loose sexual morals.

Verb

1. To practice prostitution.
2. To practice promiscuous sex.
3. To dress garishly, ostentatiously, whorishly, or sluttily.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɑɹt/

Etymology

From Middle English tart, from Old English teart (“sharp, rough, severe”), from Proto-West Germanic *tart, from Proto-Germanic *tartaz (“rough, sharp, tearing”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to flay, split, cleave”). Related to Scots tairt (“tart; tartness”), Dutch tarten (“to defy, challenge, mock”), German trotzen (“to defy, brave, mock”), perhaps Albanian thartë (“sour, acid, sharp”).