Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tar \Tar\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tarred}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tarring}.]
   To smear with tar, or as with tar; as, to tar ropes; to tar
   cloth.

   {To tar and feather a person}. See under {Feather}, v. t.

Feather \Feath"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Feathered}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Feathering.}]
   1. To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a
      cap.

            An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow
            feathered from her own wing.          --L'Estrange.

   2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe.

            A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow
            ravines.                              --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[R.]

            The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedions
            hours.                                --Loveday.

   4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit.

            They stuck not to say that the king cared not to
            plume his nobility and people to feather himself.
                                                  --Bacon.
      --Dryden.

   5. To tread, as a cock. --Dryden.

   {To feather one's nest}, to provide for one's self especially
      from property belonging to another, confided to one's
      care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds
      which collect feathers for the lining of their nests.

   {To feather an oar} (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the
      water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the
      least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke.
      

   {To tar and feather a person}, to smear him with tar and
      cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity.