— Tartarly , adv.
/tahr"teuhr/ , n.
1. a member of any of the various tribes, chiefly Mongolian and Turkish, who, originally under the leadership of Genghis Khan, overran Asia and much of eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.
2. a member of the descendants of this people variously intermingled with other peoples and tribes, now inhabiting parts of the European and W and central Asian Russian Federation.
3. Tatar (defs. 1-3).
4. ( often l.c. ) a savage, intractable person.
5. ( often l.c. ) an ill-tempered person.
6. catch a Tartar , to deal with someone or something that proves unexpectedly troublesome or powerful. Also, catch a tartar .
adj.
7. of or pertaining to a Tartar or Tartars; Tartarian.
8. Tatar (def. 5). Also, Tatar (for defs. 1, 2, 4-6).
[ 1350-1400; ME Tartarus, perh. var. of * Tatarus
Tatar, by assoc. with TARTARUS; r. ME Tartre ]
/tahr"teuhr/ , n. Obs.
Tartarus.