tartar

noun3

1. •
   A hard yellow deposit on the teeth, formed from dental plaque.
2. •
   A red compound deposited during wine making, mostly potassium hydrogen tartrate; wine stone — a source of cream of tartar.
3. •
   (old-fashioned) 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. — 1929

noun3

1. •
   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. — 1871
2. •
   (figurative, old-fashioned) A person of a keen, irritable temper.
3. •
   (figurative) 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. — 2003

adjective1

1. •
   Of or relating to the people or culture of Tartars.

   • Tartar customs