Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various essential oils containing monoterpene alcohols which are added to a henna mix to darken the color.
  • verb transitive To add such an essential oil to (a henna mix).
  • noun slang An interpreter (translator).
  • noun computing, slang An interpreter (program that parses and executes another program).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of terpene.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of interpreter.

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Examples

  • re: "terp"--I believe it's short for terrapin, which essentially means turtle.

    Oh Boy, Get Out the Credit Card...New Cupcake Books Galore!! Cupcake Queen 2006

  • After his reply my interpreter (or "terp") began laughing and told me that his reply was only that American skin is camouflage colored, meaning that the uniform identifies us as American, and no other distinction is needed or made.

    Shaun Alan Jakob: A Single Person Out of Thousands in the Iraqi Countryside 2008

  • In early 2004 she got a job as an interpreter (a "terp" in soldier slang), working in the five-square-mile compound known as the Green Zone around the old presidential compound in the heart of Baghdad.

    Love and War 2007

  • But on the first day at this job, the sergeant asked me my 'terp' name.

    NYT > Home Page By MICHAEL KAMBER 2011

  • But the discussion progressed haltingly, with the "terp" seeming to have trouble keeping up with the conversation.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA 2010

  • But the discussion progressed haltingly, with the "terp" seeming to have trouble keeping up with the conversation.

    Fort Mill Times | FortMillTime.com - HOMEPAGE 2010

  • An Afghan interpreter, known colloquially by the Americans as a "terp," translated into the local language, Pashto.

    Fort Mill Times | FortMillTime.com - HOMEPAGE 2010

  • An Afghan interpreter, known colloquially by the Americans as a "terp," translated into the local language, Pashto.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA 2010

  • An Afghan interpreter, known colloquially by the Americans as a "terp," translated into the local language, Pashto.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA 2010

  • But the discussion progressed haltingly, with the "terp" seeming to have trouble keeping up with the conversation.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA 2010

Comments

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  • small town in Denmark, often then given to immigrants as their last name when they immigrate to the United States.

    July 31, 2014

  • I wonder if they use the word terpitude (instead of turpitude)

    August 1, 2014