-tama-

a. Capable of being tamed, subdued, or reclaimed from wildness or savage ferociousness. -- Tam"a*ble*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

n. [ Written also tamal, tomale. ] [ Amer. Sp. tamal, of Mex. origin. ] A Mexican dish made of crushed corn (cornmeal) mixed with minced meat, seasoned with red pepper, dipped in oil, and steamed. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Sp., from the native name: cf. F. tamandua. ] (Zool.) A small ant-eater (Tamandua tetradactyla) native of the tropical parts of South America. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It has five toes on the fore feet, an elongated snout, small ears, and short woolly hair. Its tail is stout and hairy at the base, tapering, and covered with minute scales, and is somewhat prehensile at the end. Called also tamandua, little ant-bear, fourmilier, and cagouare. The collared, or striped, tamandu (Tamandua bivittata) is considered a distinct species by some writers, but by others is regarded as only a variety. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The ant-bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) (a) The American larch; also, the larch of Oregon and British Columbia (Larix occidentalis). See Hackmatack, and Larch. (b) The black pine (Pinus Murrayana) of Alaska, California, etc. It is a small tree with fine-grained wood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. tamarice. See Tamarisk. ] A shrub or tree supposed to be the tamarisk, or perhaps some kind of heath. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come. Jer. xvii. 6 (Douay version). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From the native name in Cayenne. ] (Zool.) Any one of several species of small squirrel-like South American monkeys of the genus Midas, especially Midas ursulus. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ It. tamarindo, or Sp. tamarindo, or Pg. tamarindo, tamarinho, from Ar. tamarhindī, literally, Indian date; tamar a dried date + Hind India: cf. F. tamarin. Cf. Hindu. ] (Bot.) 1. A leguminous tree (Tamarindus Indica) cultivated both the Indies, and the other tropical countries, for the sake of its shade, and for its fruit. The trunk of the tree is lofty and large, with wide-spreading branches; the flowers are in racemes at the ends of the branches. The leaves are small and finely pinnated. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of the preserved seed pods of the tamarind, which contain an acid pulp, and are used medicinally and for preparing a pleasant drink. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tamarind fish, a preparation of a variety of East Indian fish with the acid pulp of the tamarind fruit. --
Velvet tamarind. (a) A West African leguminous tree (Codarium acutifolium). (b) One of the small black velvety pods, which are used for food in Sierra Leone. --
Wild tamarind (Bot.), a name given to certain trees somewhat resembling the tamarind, as the Lysiloma latisiliqua of Southern Florida, and the Pithecolobium filicifolium of the West Indies. [ 1913 Webster ]