TART  , a dish of baked pastry containing

fruit, a fruit pie; also a small open piece of baked pastry with jam placed upon it . The word was adapted from the O.Fr. lame; the older form must have been torte, as is seen in the mod . Fr. tourte and the diminutive tortel or torteau; the origin is the Lat . Jolla, twisted (torquere, to twist), used of a cake in Med . Lat., the paste or dough of cakes or tarts being rolled or twisted . The alteration of the vowel is also seen in Ital. tartera . In English there is some confusion with " tart," sharp, acid, bitter, which comes from O.E. teart, sharp, severe, properly " tearing," from teran, to tear; cf .