Tartan meaning : A kind of woven woollen cloth with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles, associated with Scottish Highlanders, different clans having their own distinctive patterns. The pattern associated with such material. An individual or a group wearing tartan; a Highlander or Scotsman in general. Trade name of a synthetic resin, used for surfacing tracks etc. To clothe in tartan. Having a pattern like a tartan. Scottish.