Tarzan

Coined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. A name created by Burroughs for his fiction.

In the fictional ape language of the books, "tarzan" means "white-skin"; possibly echoic in its phonetics of various "exotic" names (see Orientalism).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹzæn/

Tarzan

1. (fiction) A heroic fictional character, raised from a baby to adulthood in the African jungle by apes.

• out-Tarzan
• Tarzana
• Tarzanese
• Tarzanesque
• Tarzanian
• Tarzanic
• Tarzanish
• Tarzanism
• Tarzanist
• Tarzan-like
• Tarzan-speak
• Tarzan swing
• Tarzany
• Tarzan yell

Tarzan (plural Tarzans)

1. (by extension) A strong wild man; any man showing attributes of Tarzan, as muscularity, agility, etc.
   • 1991 September 7, The Daily Telegraph, London, page 13:

     "[A]s if we all like climbing around in trees, like monkeys or Tarzans."

   • 1993 July 13, “Golf: Stewart in good heart”, in The Guardian, Manchester:

     PAYNE STEWART, beating his heart like a Tarzan, drummed out a message to the rest of the Open Championship field with three days to go before the off. "I'm ready," he said, "definitely ready."

   • 1993 November 28, “You never forget a good nanny”, in The Guardian, Manchester:

     The top price of £4,500 belongs to Michael Heseltine, but there is little glory here. The caption, of a Tarzan cruelly ravaged by time, is 'But even the beautiful can age.'

   • 2011, John Creasey, The Flood:

     There was nothing really statuesque about him; this wasn't a kind of Tarzan, with massive shoulders and great muscles and limbs as strong as a beast's, but a tall, lean, handsome man, who moved with superlative ease.

Tarzan (third-person singular simple present Tarzans, present participle Tarzaning, simple past and past participle Tarzaned)

1. To behave in the manner of Tarzan, especially by swinging from ropes, climbing trees, and other feats of athleticism.
   • 1919 August 16, “Hollywood Hokum”, in Motion Picture News, New York, page 1475, column 2:

     Elmo Lincoln, that mighty man of valor who Tarzaned about, has issued a challenge to Jack Dempsey, and we wish him all the luck in the world.

   • 1935 July 23, “Here and There in Sports' Land”, in New Castle News, New Castle, PA, page 10, column 4:

     Later in the evening a tree climbing contest was held. Paul Gipe was the only entry. However, judging from the manner in which he tarzaned up and down the big tree he would have had small competition.

   • 1953 March 21, The Advertiser, Adelaide, page 6, column 4:

     Once, when he was about 12, he had attached a rope to the roof, thrown the other end to the top of a tree and the next morning "Tarzaned" across from the tree to his parents' window. He could still remember the look of startled anger on their faces, and how it changed to the one of pleasure they always had for him. After that he often "Tarzaned" in for a morning visit.

   • 1992 September 13, “Shedding Inhibitions – and Even Clothes – on a Kauai Wilderness Tour”, in The Seattle Times, page 7:

     None of us had ever "Tarzaned" off a cliff[.]

   • 1997 March 6, “Texas Officer Perfects Art of Lassoing Emus”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, page 3:

     "He Tarzaned it," Abshier says, describing Deputy King's wild, but ultimately successful, flying tackle. "He spent the rest of the day pulling dewberry stickers out of his pants."

   • 1999 July 18, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta, Ga, page 8:

     Being a devotee of the Johnny Weismuller school of Tarzaning, no wasp-waisted cartoon character can get my blood aboil.

• Dutch: Tarzan
• Swedish: Tarzan

• Tarzan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from English Tarzan.

Tarzan

1. Tarzan

Borrowed from English Tarzan.

• Audio:

  (file)

Tarzan m (proper noun, strong, genitive Tarzans)

1. Tarzan

Borrowed from English Tarzan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtar.zan/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arzan
• Syllabification: Tar‧zan
• Homophone: tarzan

Tarzan m pers

1. Tarzan (heroic fictional character, raised in the jungle by apes)

• Tarzan in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from English Tarzan.

• IPA^(key): /¹taʂan/

Tarzan c (genitive Tarzans)

1. Tarzan

   dra en Tarzan

   jerk off ("pull a Tarzan") (idiomatic)

• runka (“jerk off”)