tarzan

name

1. A heroic fictional character, raised from a baby to adulthood in the African jungle by apes.

noun

1. (broadly)A strong wild man; any man showing attributes of Tarzan, as muscularity, agility, etc.

   “"My job is to grab him before he slaughters more." "He sounds a bit of a Tarzan." "A wild man right enough is Toowanor, but from his size you'd never imagine he was a killer."”

   “"[A]s if we all like climbing around in trees, like monkeys or Tarzans."”

   “PAYNE STEWART, beating his heart like a Tarzan, drummed out a message to the rest of the Open Championship field with three days to go before the off. "I'm ready," he said, "definitely ready."”

   “The top price of £4,500 belongs to Michael Heseltine, but there is little glory here. The caption, of a Tarzan cruelly ravaged by time, is 'But even the beautiful can age.'”

   “There was nothing really statuesque about him; this wasn't a kind of Tarzan, with massive shoulders and great muscles and limbs as strong as a beast's, but a tall, lean, handsome man, who moved with superlative ease.”

verb

1. To behave in the manner of Tarzan, especially by swinging from ropes, climbing trees, and other feats of athleticism.

   “Elmo Lincoln, that mighty man of valor who Tarzaned about, has issued a challenge to Jack Dempsey, and we wish him all the luck in the world.”

   “Later in the evening a tree climbing contest was held. Paul Gipe was the only entry. However, judging from the manner in which he tarzaned up and down the big tree he would have had small competition.”

   “Once, when he was about 12, he had attached a rope to the roof, thrown the other end to the top of a tree and the next morning "Tarzaned" across from the tree to his parents' window. He could still remember the look of startled anger on their faces, and how it changed to the one of pleasure they always had for him. After that he often "Tarzaned" in for a morning visit.”

   “None of us had ever "Tarzaned" off a cliff[.]”

   “"He Tarzaned it," Abshier says, describing Deputy King's wild, but ultimately successful, flying tackle. "He spent the rest of the day pulling dewberry stickers out of his pants."”