tar·boosh also tar·bush (tär-bo?osh?)n. See fez.[Modern colloquial Arabic ?arb??, perhaps from Spanish traposo, ragged, or trapucho, old rag, worthless item of clothing (perhaps used as a slang term for the tarboosh, the typical male headwear of the Maghreb, by Moriscos who settled in the Maghreb after their expulsion from Spain in the 1600s) , from trapo, rag, from Late Latin drappus, cloth, perhaps of Gaulish origin.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.tarboosh (t???bu??) , tarbush or tarbouchen (Clothing & Fashion) a felt or cloth brimless cap resembling the fez, usually red and often with a silk tassel, worn alone or as part of a turban by Muslim men[C18: from Arabic tarb?sh]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014tar?boosh or tar?bush (t?r?bu?) n. a tasseled felt or cloth hat resembling a fez, worn by Muslim men. [1695?1705;