tarten

From tart +‎ -en.

tarten (third-person singular simple present tartens, present participle tartening, simple past and past participle tartened)

1. (transitive) To make tart or bitter
   • 1956, Library Journal, volume 81, page 2257:

     These faults in a scholar tend to tarten the writing, to enliven the reader.

   • 1964, Long Island Forum, volumes 27-29, page 169:

     I loved their shouts of welcome as I trudged across the fields carrying the heavy jug. Mama mixed the old time drink from cold well water, a pinch of ginger, molasses and some vinegar to tarten it.

   • 1991, The Lyric Opera companion, The History, Lore, and Stories of the World's Greatest Operas:

     He knew precisely when to spice the orchestration with percussive pepper, when to add a pinch more of sugar, when to tarten the mixture with a squeeze or two of lime.

2. (intransitive) To become tart or bitter
   • 1928, The Second American Caravan: A Yearbook of American Literature:

     […] her sweetness tartened as one side of her clutched loyalty, the other love.

• Arnett, attern, natter, net art, ratten, treant

From Middle Dutch torten, tarten, terten, from Old Dutch *trotton, *tratton, further etymology unknown. Cognate with Middle High German tratzen, trotzen, tretzen, with the same variation in stem vowel.

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• Rhymes: -ɑrtən

tarten

1. to provoke, to dare, to affront

   het lot tarten ― to tempt fate

   Hij tartte het lot ― He tempted fate.

• uitdagen
• uitlokken
• provoceren

• natter, ratten