tar pit

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tar pit

n.
An accumulation of natural bitumen at the earth's surface, especially one that traps animals and preserves their bones and other hard parts.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tar′ pit`



n.
a seepage of natural tar or asphalt, esp. an accumulation that has animal bones preserved within it.
[1830–40]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

tar pit

An accumulation of natural tar or asphalt at the Earth's surface, especially one that traps animals and preserves their bones.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. tar pit - a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved
cavity, pit - a sizeable hole (usually in the ground); "they dug a pit to bury the body"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
Sure, I've come across people who didn't know what they were doing who steered themselves into the tarpits by messing with things they didn't understand, but that's all part of growing up.
bimaculata on 6 November 2014, 30 January 2015, and 17 March 2015 at Tarpits Reef, Carpinteria.
And if some Democratic dinosaur lifted his head out of the Congressional tarpits to orate about the missing WMDs, or unemployment, or the two and a half million people who lost their health insurance this year, I'd nod my head sagely and let him rant on.
"This stuff in quantity could've dissolved the La Brea tarpits. It'll dry in no time.
Large, vertically integrated companies that do everything from market research and product development to sales and shipping are sinking into the tarpits of turbulent change, much like the dinosaurs of old.