The Only Use of
tartar
in
Romeo and Juliet
- The date is out of such prolixity:
We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf,
Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath,
Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper;
Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance:
But, let them measure us by what they will,
We'll measure them a measure, and be gone.†p. 40.3
Definitions:
-
(1)
(tartar as in: tartar on the teeth) calcified deposits on the teeth, formed by the continuous presence of dental plaque (also called calculous)
-
(2)
(meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) meaning too common or too rare to warrant focus:
Do not confuse this with the proper noun, Tartar, which references a central Asian people once known for their ferocity in battle.
The expression tartar sauce refers to a mayonnaise-based sauce commonly served with seafood and sometimes spelled tartare sauce. You may also see steak tartar in reference to a ground beef dish that is eaten raw; though the preferred spelling of the dish is steak tartare.
Much more rarely, tartar can reference anyone with a bad temper, or it can reference a reddish crust or sediment in wine casks.