tarmac

IPA: tˈɑrmæk

Tarmacadam.
(loosely, UK, Ireland, Canada) Any bituminous road surfacing material.
(UK, Ireland, Canada) The driveable surface of a road.
(informal, aviation) The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.

(Britain, Canada) To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.
(aviation) To spend time idling on a runway, usually waiting for takeoff clearance.

Examples of "tarmac" in Sentences

It was a bad month for travelers caught in tarmac delays.
Waiting on the tarmac was a Gulfstream III (G3) executive jet (tail number N366JA).
Passengers trapped on the tarmac is a suitable symbol for the present plight of air travelers and airlines.
The only other plane on the tarmac was a big DC-9 passenger jet emblazoned with the Gore-Lieberman campaign logo.
It was to be a while before the luggage was to be loaded so the pilot took me up to the board the plane where I could watch the tarmac from a window.
Calhoun instructed his team to walk along the chain-link fence that separated the tarmac from the fans, many of whom reached through with scraps of paper for their heroes to sign.
My old office is in a huge corporate park right across the street from Los Angeles International Airport; we could see the planes hit the tarmac from the 12th floor of the building.
They've been lobbying Congress for years to crack down on the airlines, to stop what some call tarmac hostage-taking, to punish airlines that punish passengers with interminable delays on the tarmac.
I - one of the most fascinating aspects of your book is - because it interests me so personally, is concrete and the development of roads in the country, and how we got the word tarmac and concrete and things like that.