Dictionary

tarpit en · NOUN

Etymology

From tar + pit.

Meanings

1. A lake of asphalt formed when subterranean bitumen leaks to the ground surface. Such pits are important in forming fossil fuel reserves; they are also apt to trap passing animals, which become fossilized in the tar.
2. A service that purposely delays incoming connections in order to reduce the effectiveness of spamming and similar techniques.

Forms

Deriveds

Turing tarpit

Relateds

tar baby

Translations (4)

fi asfalttijärvi (lake of asphalt) · fr fosse à bitume (lake of asphalt) · ru смоляна́я я́ма (lake of asphalt) · fr lac d'asphalte (lake of asphalt)

tarpit en · VERB

Etymology

From tar + pit.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To delay by means of a tarpit service.
   • If an attack matches a certain pattern, the connection can be tarpitted. 2004, Steven Andres, Brian Kenyon, Erik Pack Birkholz, Security Sage's Guide to Hardening the Network Infrastructure, page 415:

Forms