tallow

Etymology

From Middle English talow, talgh, from Old English *tealh, *tealg, (compare Old English tælg, telg (“dye”)), from Proto-West Germanic *talg, from Proto-Germanic *talgaz (compare Dutch talg, German Talg), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to flow”) (compare Middle Irish delt (“dew”), Old Armenian տեղ (teł, “heavy rain”)).

noun

1. A hard animal fat obtained from suet, etc.; used in cooking as well as to make candles, soap and lubricants.
   I have got a very fine shirt, which I am going to use for my wedding shirt; but there are three tallow stains on it which I want washed out[.] 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 240
   Nor were the wool prospects much better. The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse. 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, chapter VIII, section ii

verb

1. To grease or smear with tallow.
2. To cause to have a large quantity of tallow; to fatten.
   to tallow sheep