A punishment lately infliced by the good people of Boston on any person convicted, or suspected, of loyalty: such delinquents being “stripped naked”, were daubed all over with tar, and afterwards put into a hogshead of feathers.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Tarpawlin * TartNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes