tarred-and-feathered
Adjective: * Smeared with tar and covered with feathers: Describes a person who has been subjected to the historical punishment or mob violence of having hot tar applied to their skin and then being covered in feathers.
This term is used almost exclusively as a compound adjective to describe a victim of this specific form of assault. It is a fixed expression. * It is typically placed before a noun (e.g., a tarred-and-feathered man). * It can be used in the passive voice to describe the action performed on someone (e.g., He was tarred and feathered).
- The historical account described the tarred-and-feathered tax collector fleeing the town.
- In the old drawing, the tarred-and-feathered figure was a symbol of public shaming.
- The mob threatened to have him tarred and feathered if he returned.
- Figurative Use: The term can be used metaphorically to describe someone who has been severely publicly humiliated, criticized, or punished, though not literally with tar and feathers.
- After the scandal, the politician felt tarred and feathered by the media.
- Tar and feather (verb phrase): The action of applying this punishment.
- The crowd sought to tar and feather the informant.
- Tarring and feathering (noun): The practice or an instance of this punishment.
- Tarring and feathering was a brutal form of vigilante justice.
- Stigmatized: Branded as shameful.
- Pilloried: Exposed to public ridicule or abuse.
- Shamed: Subjected to public disgrace.
This term refers to a specific historical practice common in 18th and 19th century America and other regions, used by mobs to punish and drive out individuals deemed offensive to the community (e.g., tax enforcers, loyalists, criminals). It was intended to cause pain, humiliation, and social exile. The order of the words ("tarred" then "feathered") is fixed in the compound adjective.
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smeared with tar and covered with feathers as a punishment
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the poor tarred-and-feathered wretch
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