Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To dress or decorate in a cheap, showy, and often provocative manner: The term implies an attempt to make something or someone look more attractive or exciting in a way that is considered tacky, flashy, or in poor taste.

Usage

• The verb "tart up" is informal and often carries a critical or disapproving tone.
• It is typically used with an object (e.g., or ).
• It can refer to both people (their appearance) and objects or places (their decoration).

Examples

• Referring to a person's appearance:
  • She tarted herself up for the party with heavy makeup and a sparkly dress.
  • He was all tarted up in a cheap suit and too much cologne.
• Referring to decorating a place or object:
  • They tried to tart up the old café with neon signs and plastic flowers.
  • The developers just tarted up the building's facade without fixing any of the internal problems.

Advanced Usage

• "to tart oneself up": A reflexive construction where the subject dresses themselves in such a manner.
  • She spent hours tarted up in front of the mirror before her date.
• Used to imply superficial or deceptive improvement that doesn't address fundamental quality.
  • The report was just a tarted-up version of the old one, with no new data.

Variants and Related Words

• Tarted-up (adjective): Describing something that has been made to look this way.
  • We went to a tarted-up nightclub on the outskirts of town.
• Tart (noun, informal, often offensive): A derogatory term for a woman perceived as dressing or behaving in a sexually provocative way. (Note: This is a separate, related word with a different part of speech and a stronger negative connotation.)

Synonyms

• Gussy up (informal): To dress or decorate in a showy way.
• Doll up (informal): To dress smartly or glamorously, sometimes with a less negative connotation than "tart up."
• Prettify: To make pretty, sometimes in a superficial way.
• Spruce up: To make neat or smart in appearance. (This usually has a positive or neutral connotation, unlike "tart up.")

Phrasal Verbs

• As a phrasal verb, "tart up" is not separable in standard usage. The particle "up" is required.
  • Correct: They tarted the bar up. / They tarted up the bar.
  • Incorrect (in this meaning): They tarted the bar.

Related Idioms

• All tarted up: A common idiomatic phrase describing the finished state.
  • She arrived at the reunion all tarted up, trying to impress her old classmates.
  • The old theater was all tarted up for its grand reopening.

Verb

1. dress up in a cheap and provocative way
2. decorate in a cheap and flashy way
   • the small-town bar was all tarted up