Definition of "tare"

tare¹

/tɛə/

noun
plural tares
1. (rare) A vetch, or the seed of a vetch (genus Vicia, esp. Vicia sativa)
2. Any of the tufted grasses of genus Lolium; darnel.
3. (rare, figuratively) A damaging weed growing in fields of grain.
  Quotations
  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
  Matthew 13:25 (KJV)
  I saw as I thought an uncle and guardian who has led a sober, industrious and Christian life and finds himself obliged to look on the tares of folly in his own close kin.
  1985, John Fowles, A Maggot

tare²

/tɛə/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural tares
1. The empty weight of a container; unladen weight.
  Quotations
  What is the neat weight of 4 hogsheads of tobacco, each weighing 10cwt. 3qrs. 10lb. gross; — tare 100lb. per hdd.?
  1824, Stephen Pike, The Teachers' Assistant: Or a System of Practical Arithmetic, page 97
verb
third-person singular simple present tares, present participle taring, simple past and past participle tared
1. (chiefly business and law) To take into account the weight of the container, wrapping etc. in weighting merchandise.
  Quotations
  he is […] to tare such number of bales as may be deemed necessary to settle the net weight for duty.
  1886, Records of the History, Laws, Regulations, and Statistics of the Tobacco Trade of the United Kingdom, page 86
  Without question, I think, the exploit of "Jubilee" No. 45737 Atlas [...] was the finest [...], for the train was made up to eleven bogies taring the maximum of 350 tons for an engine of this class, notwithstanding which 7 min. was gained on schedule.
  1959 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 610
2. (sciences) To set a zero value on an instrument (usually a balance) that discounts the starting point.
  Quotations
  Spectrometers, for example, must be zeroed before each reading; balances must be tared before each weighing.
  2003, Dany Spencer Adams, Lab Math, CSHL Press, p. 63

tare³

/tɛə/

verb
1. (obsolete) simple past of tear

tare⁴

/ˈtɑːɹeɪ/

noun
uncountable
1. Any of various dipping sauces served with Japanese food, typically based on soy sauce.