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Glite Dictionary
to tar-and-feather

to tar-and-feather

1 9.9
Cover someone with hot sticky tar and then feathers to punish and shame them publicly
  • phrasal verb
  • /tɑr ənd ˈfɛðər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : untar con alquitrán y emplumar
  • That a bunch of RINOs tried to tar and feather Akins and run him out of town on a rail is not acceptable.
  • ready to tar-and-feather

Examples

  • Before the evening ended, the attending voters stood prepared to tar-and-feather any discount chain executive who might set foot in Greenbriar, and it was obvious they'd also embraced Serge's other ideas for making the Borough Council a friend to local business.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The mob threatened to tar-and-feather the traitor as punishment for his actions.

  • Shall we tar and feather?

    Blog text (8)

  • Let's tar and feather them!

    Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)

  • Excuse me while I dance naked in the streets as they tar and feather the snake oil salesman.

    Blog text (21)

  • Tar and feather him.

    The Great Debaters (2007)

  • I agree with you that we are "all" so morally above this man we should tar and feather him; after all, he's probably the only politician that has ever agreed with his wife.

    Blog text (8)

  • They need to know that there are many Catholics who are not standing in readiness to tar and feather every priest who missteps.

    Blog text (32)

  • Republicans and conservatives, regardless of their feelings deep down, realize that any remarks that can be interpreted as even vaguely racial in character will be used to tar and feather them until eternity.

    Blog text (34)

  • Like, what, they'd tar and feather her and parade her through the streets of Wasika to be clamped into the stocks and have a scarlet "A" tattooed into her forehead?

    Blog text (32)

Synonyms

tarred-and-feathered
vsto tar-and-feather
1 9.9

Smeared with tar and covered with feathers to punish or shame in public

is the same action but written or formed in a different grammatical way
to pillory
vsto tar-and-feather
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To put someone in a wooden frame with holes for the head and hands for public shame

uses a messy covering method rather than physical restraint and exposure

How Humiliating

to tar-and-feather
  • Offensive
1 9.9
to pillory
7 9.3
to reprimand
  • Formal
33 6.1
to scold
55 2.2
to embarrass
642 2.1

Surface Forms

tar-and-feather infinitive
tarred-and-feathered past
tarred-and-feathered past participle
tarring-and-feathering present participle
tar-and-feathers third person singular

Morphology

tar-and-feather = tar + feather (transparent) = tar + feather

The verb is a literal compounding of the nouns 'tar' and 'feather' describing the action of covering someone with tar then feathers.

Etymology

Tar-and-feather comes from a cruel old punishment where people were covered with hot tar and then with feathers so they were shamed and made to look ridiculous in public. So, to 'tar-and-feather' someone now means to publicly punish or humiliate them.