Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In India, a native-bred pony or small horse. Also, by abbreviation, tat. See
tat . - noun A beat of drum and bugle-call at night, giving notice to soldiers to repair to their quarters in garrison or to their tents in camp; in United States men-of-war, a bugle-call or beat of drum at 9
p. m. - noun A pattern, legend, or picture produced by tattooing: used also attributively: as, tattoo marks.
- To mark, as the surface of the body, with indelible patterns produced by pricking the skin and inserting different pigments in the punctures.
- To beat the tattoo; make a noise like that of the tattoo.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To color, as the flesh, by pricking in coloring matter, so as to form marks or figures which can not be washed out.
- noun (Mil.) A beat of drum, or sound of a trumpet or bugle, at night, giving notice to soldiers to retreat, or to repair to their quarters in garrison, or to their tents in camp.
- noun See under
Devil . - noun An indelible mark or figure made by puncturing the skin and introducing some pigment into the punctures; -- a mode of ornamentation practiced by various barbarous races, both in ancient and modern times, and also by some among civilized nations, especially by sailors.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A breed of pony from
India ; a pony of that breed. - noun An image made in the skin with ink and a needle.
- noun A method of decorating the skin by inserting colored substances under the surface. The skin is punctured with a sharp instrument, which now is usually a solenoid-driven needle, that carries the inks to lower layers of the skin.
- verb To
apply a tattoo to (someone or something). - verb baseball To hit the ball hard, as if to figuratively leave a tattoo on the ball.
- noun nautical A signal played five minutes before taps (lights out).
- noun A signal by drum or bugle ordering soldiers to return to their quarters.
- noun A military display or pageant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a design on the skin made by tattooing
- noun a drumbeat or bugle call that signals the military to return to their quarters
- noun the practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining
- verb stain (skin) with indelible color
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tattoo.
Examples
-
They are participants in a cultural wave as huge as the Pacific surf, the islands from which the word "tattoo" originated.
-
But you can not tell me that every person with a tattoo is an idiot, uneducated, or trashy.
-
But you can not tell me that every person with a tattoo is an idiot, uneducated, or trashy.
-
Inside the tattoo is a series of numbers that she didn't even realize were there ... but that have great significance.
Book Trailer Theater: Birthing House & Faces in the Fire 2009
-
Matthew Fox had the tattoo before he became Jack, so how much of the tattoo is actually meaningful to who Jack is, and how much of it is just to give us an explanation of where he got the tattoo (e.g. after forcing a tattoo artist/fortune teller into giving it to him)?
The Tail Section » Stranger in a Strange Land Easter Eggs! 2007
-
Google "Sergei Polunin" and the word "tattoo" comes third in the list of suggestions.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Louise Levene 2012
-
Google "Sergei Polunin" and the word "tattoo" comes third in the list of suggestions.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Louise Levene 2012
-
Her tattoo is beneath her shirt, waiting to be kissed.
Supernova Nicholas Rombes 2010
-
June 30th, 2010 at 10: 46 am apparently the only thing worse than a twilight tattoo is a twilight tattoo inked by someone who evidently has no artistic talent. not that i have to clarify, but juuuust in case, i am specifically referring to numbers 12 & 8.seriously. i would be SO MAD!
-
But Oakland Mayor Bill Mullins said Leifer's tattoo is no past mistake.
-
Jasmine Romero specializes in sigil tattoos, or custom symbols created collaboratively with clients.
-
That is how I got my “Cat 5 tattoo” – a greasy chainring imprint on the inside of your right calf. My brother-in-law introduced me to it gleefully because it’s meant as an insult.
How do you know I’m an idiot? Take a look at my right calf | Zoe Williams Zoe Williams 2022
bilby commented on the word tattoo
"For three years, Goodyear's Dunlop tyre unit has offered a set of free tyres to anyone who will get the company's flying-D logo tattooed somewhere on their body, and 98 people have taken up the offer." - 'Tattoos A Sign Of Advertising Status', The Age online, 5 Dec 2007.
December 4, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word tattoo
In the 17th and 18th centuries, a tattoo was the military command to publicans serving troops to close the beer taps so that the soldiers or sailors could return to their quarters. Allegedly its origins are from the Dutch doe den tap toe. As commands were routinely (in this time period) transmitted to troops via musicians (usually fifers and drummers), "Tattoo" can also designate a specific piece of music used to relay the command.
As well as designating this design I got inked into my arm. (It was not a flying-D or any other logo.)
October 9, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tattoo
"Tattooing, a cant term used by seamen.... The operation consists in first sketching out with Indian ink their names, &c. where they chuse (sic) to be marked; then with needles, or some pointed instrument, they prick the skin through the lines; this being done, they rub into the holes some fine-grained gunpowder, which can never be extracted.
"This practice, borrowed from the Indians is generally encouraged, and has frequently led to the discovery of British seamen and soldiers who have deserted, and who, much to their disgrace, have sometimes been found in the service of hostile nations."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), p. 700
October 10, 2008
reesetee commented on the word tattoo
Oops.
November 19, 2008
bilby commented on the word tattoo
Tattoo.
September 30, 2009
bilby commented on the word tattoo
"a mode of ornamentation practiced by various barbarous races, both in ancient and modern times..."
December 14, 2012
bilby commented on the word tattoo
"Enjoy that tattooed sunrise over your ass crack, lady, because in 20 years' time it will look like an octopus chasing a starfish."
- Robin Williams.
March 20, 2013