tartar

A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.

A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.

A fearsome or angrily violent person.

Mrs. Begg said she liked Mrs. Dain, who was a sensible woman and a first-rate housewife, but that Gabrielle was a tartar.

Alternative spelling of Tatar.

A member of the various tribes and their descendants of Tartary, such as Turks, Mongols and Manchus.

Persia is a great country, which was in old times very illustrious and powerful; but now the Tartars have wasted and destroyed it.

A person of a keen, irritable temper.

A rough or violent event.

I haven't escaped sickness all my life to get off easily now. […] I knew when my turn came, it would be a Tartar.