Tapster. The old name for a tavern-keeper or his assistant, applied in days when taps were first fitted to barrels for drawing off liquor.
Tarantella. A dance invented for the purpose of inducing perspiration as a supposed remedy for the poisonous bite of the Tarantula spider, which received its name from the city of Taranto in Italy, where its baneful effects were first noted.
Tarlatan. From Tarare in France, the chief seat of the manufacture.
Tar Heels. The nickname of the people of South Carolina, relative to the tar industry in its lowland forests.
Tarragona. Called by the Romans Tarraco, after the name given to the city by the Phœnicians, Tarchon, “citadel.”
Tarred with the same Brush. This expression originated in the custom of marking the sheep of different folds formerly with a brush dipped in tar, but nowadays more generally in red ochre.
Tart. A punning abbreviation of “Sweetheart.”
Tasmania. After Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who discovered it in 1642.
Tattersall’s. After Richard Tattersall, who established his famous horse repository near Hyde Park Corner in 1786; on 10th April 1865 it was removed to its present locale at Knightsbridge.
Taunton. The town on the River Tone.