Message-ID: <19836574.1075846821421.JavaMail.evans@thyme>
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 17:29:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: wsmith@wordsmith.org
To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tarmac
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tarmac (TAHR-mak) noun

   A tarmacadam road or surface, especially an airport runway.

verb tr.

   To cause (an aircraft) to sit on a taxiway.

verb intr.

   To sit on a taxiway. Used of an aircraft.

[Originally a trademark.]

   "Official predictions suggest that Britain faces a future of rising
   congestion and pollution, as more countryside disappears under concrete
   and tarmac."
   Driving Britain off the roads, The Economist, Jan 24, 1998.

This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary.

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/tarmac.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/tarmac.ram