tanner

Pluraltanners

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A person whose job is turning animal hides into leather, usually by treating them with tannin from bark.

   The tanner stretched the treated hide across a wooden frame to dry.

   Medieval tanners often set up shop downstream because the work smelled so foul.

   Note

   The trade name is simply tan plus the agent suffix -er. It comes from Old English tannere and was reinforced by Old French tannour. The tan here is the material that turns hide into leather. Not every tanner belongs to this family: the old sixpence and the spider crab take their names from men called Tanner, so the resemblance is an accident of surnames.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A person who applies a tan to someone's skin, especially a spray tan.

   The tanner adjusted the spray gun before working on the client's legs.

   Professional tanners blend the solution to match each person's natural skin tone.

   Note

   Here the tan is the one on skin, not the tannery's. The agent suffix is the same, but it is attached to a different meaning of tan. Personal tanner is a natural pairing for someone hired for one client. The Guardian in 2023 reported that Ryan Gosling had a personal tanner on set while playing Ken in Barbie.

3. 3
   adjective

   Comparative form of tan.

   His face was noticeably tanner than the rest of his body.

   The curtains came out tanner than expected after weeks in the bright window.

   Note

   A comparative that happens to be spelled like the leather worker. Tan doubles its n before -er, as short adjectives ending in a single consonant do. It can grade either meaning of the adjective, the yellowish-brown color or sun-darkened skin. Skin is the meaning in Jasmine Rodriguez's Hematite (2011): "a lot tanner than I remembered."

4. 4
   nouncolloquialBritishcountable

   A former British coin worth six old pence in the pre-decimal currency.

   He slipped the boy a tanner to carry his bags up the stairs.

   Two tanners would just about cover a seat at the pictures back then.

   Similarsixpence

   Note

   Named for a man rather than a trade, this coin recalls John Sigismund Tanner (1705–1775), who designed a sixpence for the Royal Mint under George II. Tanner is the colloquial name, sixpence the formal one, and hog and lord are other names for the same coin. Slip someone a tanner is the typical move. George Borrow uses it in Lavengro (1851), and Liam McIlvanney's The Heretic (2022) still does.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Any of several long-legged spider crabs of the genus Chionoecetes, especially the species fished commercially in cold northern waters.

   The trawler's hold filled with tanner during the short Bering Sea season.

   Tanners molt their shells as they grow, leaving them soft and vulnerable for a time.

   Note

   A crab name with a naval officer behind it. It was probably taken from the species epithet tanneri in Chionoecetes tanneri, which honors Zera Luther Tanner (1835–1906). Among crabbers it often stands before crab, or before a season: tanner crab, the tanner and Dungeness seasons. Its closest neighbor term is snow crab.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A long-horned beetle of the species Prionus coriarius, with long segmented antennae.

   A tanner emerged from the old oak stump at dusk.

   Tanners lay their eggs in decaying wood, where the larvae feed for years.

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