tarmac: [20] The term tarmac commemorates the name of John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), a Scottish civil engineer who developed a method of levelling roads and covering them with gravel. Setting the gravel in tar produced in the 1880s the term tarmacadam, and in 1903 the abbreviated form tarmac was registered as a trademark. By 1919 the word was being used in British English as a synonym for ‘runway’.
1903, Tarmac, a trademark name, short for tarmacadam (1882) "pavement created by spraying tar over crushed stone," from tar (n.1) + John L. McAdam (see macadam). By 1919, tarmac was being used generally in Great Britain for "runway."
双语例句
1. As Parretti walked across the tarmac, fraud officers closed in.
当帕雷蒂穿过柏油路的时候，反欺诈警察围了上去。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Standing on the tarmac were two American planes.
停机坪上停着两架美国飞机。
来自柯林斯例句
3. They staggered in a zigzag across the tarmac.
他们深一脚浅一脚，跌跌撞撞地穿过停机坪。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Three planes were standing on the tarmac, waiting to take off.
三架飞机停在跑道上，等候起飞。
来自《权威词典》
5. The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.
