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  1. tar baby love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A situation or problem from which it is virtually impossible to disentangle oneself.

Etymologies

  1. After "Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby,” an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Disbelief in him cannot come swiftly, disbelief in a healthy and deeply-loved tar baby has never been known to disintegrate swiftly, it is a very slow process.”

    Is Shakespeare Dead?

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Lists

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Comments

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  • michaelt42 Something to be circumvented: a sticky situation or problem from which it is almost impossible to escape, which proves that it is entirely possible to end a definition of tar baby without using a preposition. May 8, 2013

  • chained_bear In tiddlywinks, "a pile under your own control, but into which your winks seem to be sucked entirely inadvertently. A tactical nightmare." Aug 27, 2008

  • treeseed Tar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, a tar baby refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by efforts to solve it.
    _Wikipedia Feb 18, 2008

  • muamor I just have to hope the cat in question does not care. Jun 26, 2007

  • amcd56 racially derogatory term - ugh Jun 26, 2007

  • kalidas definition: something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself Jan 1, 2007

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‘tar baby’ has been looked up 667 times, added to 11 lists, commented on 6 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.