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verbverb tats, verb tatting, verb tatted
[with object]Make (a decorative mat or edging) by tying knots in thread and using a small shuttle to form lace.
‘she sometimes made dresses in the evening while Momma tatted doilies’- ‘We both worked on our respective needlework projects, and I taught Lars to tat lace.’
- ‘Drawing on her incongruous but irrepressible skills as a housewife, she had tatted lengths of batik, draped bolts of brocade, swathed silk, swagged satin, ruched, ruffed, hemmed and hawed.’
- ‘I can also tat and crochet laces or other fine works.’
- ‘‘But I didn't have to make bread,’ she says, sitting at the table tatting lace, ginger-white hair pulled back into a ballet dancer's bun.’
- ‘True princesses, though, like tatting lace, embroidery, balls, affairs of the state, and so on and so on.’
Origin
Late 19th century back-formation from tatting.
noun
mass noun informal BritishTasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments.
- ‘the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat’
- ‘Well, me and the wife went to Ocean Finance to buy some new furniture to replace this gaudy tat.’
- ‘Give It allows friends and relatives to donate a sum of money to a good cause instead of buying a shoddy piece of tat that's destined for the charity shop.’
- ‘The World Cup has given men licence to buy all manner of tat.’
- ‘Which goes some way to explaining why I'm currently sitting surrounded by piles of books, items of clothing and random tat.’
- ‘Stansted is a powerful architectural statement; we should respect Foster's vision and not mask it with tat.’
- ‘He intimates that the buyers of such tat should surely not be labelled ‘tasteless buffoons,’ and I agree the second of those words is a bit strong.’
- ‘Second, a belly shirt and stray tat does not make one a porn star.’
- ‘Shoes aside (for they are the most perfect, gorgeous shoes I have ever owned or am ever likely to own), Prada clothing turns out to be overpriced tat which doesn't last.’
- ‘Following the success of a class action suit against tobacco manufacturers, and the mooted suit against junk food companies, is there perhaps a chance of a similar suit against the purveyors of tat?’
- ‘The audience adorn themselves in patriotic tat, such as Union Jack hats and novelty polyester ties, and sing songs about Britain's greatness whilst waving plastic flags.’
- ‘But are the creators exploiting the pester power of Balamory fans willing to spend vast sums of pocket money pounds on any old piece of tat with a Balamory logo?’
- ‘The girls' high-street finery, a Lycra mishmash of tat and glitter, sparkles feebly under red, yellow and purple neon strip lights.’
- ‘Hiring a skip, we spent days clearing the place of his useless tat before we could move our own piles of useless tat in.’
- ‘Let's just say, America's great for tat.’
- ‘But the desire for all this ephemeral and disposable tat could be avoided, claim the critics, by curtailing or even banning advertising aimed directly at children.’
- ‘Immediately outside the aquarium lies Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck's 1945 novel, but now a sardine-free street full of tourist tat.’
- ‘When you come up from the boats and get to the top of Westminster Bridge, it is heaving with tourists and whenever somewhere is heaving with tourists you'll find people trying to sell them a lot of tourist tat.’
- ‘Talking of Americans, a couple of them wandered into Bric Brac, one of the many shops around here selling tourist tat, and emerged with a garish, cat-shaped jug.’
- ‘Cafes, fun fairs, tat shops and arts and crafts litter the Venice beachfront, but it is the stallholders rather than the stalls themselves that provide the interest.’
- ‘And with the Easter weekend opening up before us like Goatse man's bottom, what better time to promote the best tat our country has to offer.’
Origin
Mid 19th century (in the senses ‘rag’ and ‘person in rags’): probably a back-formation from tatty.
noun
(also tatt)
informal A tattoo.
- ‘he wants to get his tats removed’
- ‘Considering you have decided on a bicep tat the pain shouldn't be too bad.’
- ‘Firstly I thought I would get a tattoo but figured that the repeated shaving or waxing required to showcase the picture might wear out the tat.’
- ‘After seeing Cal's tat, I was thinking that maybe I should get one.’
- ‘The neatest tat I've seen was on a Frenchman's wrist, a smallish cut-along-dotted-line drawing, complete with tiny scissors.’
- ‘The tat on my forearm was only really painful when it got too close to the elbow on that arm.’
- ‘The American Society of Dermatological Surgery puts tat regretees at over half, and the British Journal of Dermatology says three-quarters of everybody who gets a tattoo regrets it later.’
- ‘He's got tats on his giant muscles which he does not cover with a shirt.’
- ‘Rodriguez doesn't have any tats on his wrist.’
- ‘The only tatt I've ever been responsible about was my back one.’
- ‘In about 30 seconds he had done my tatt.’
- ‘I thought about getting a tatt for eleven years.’
- ‘He's even got a tatt on his shin.’
- ‘I have seen some really bad work (tatts) in my life, and I made sure I talked with and researched each artist.’
verbverb tats, verb tatting, verb tatted
[with object] informal1Give (a person or body part) a tattoo.
- ‘I think you should try tatting your arms—you'll get more respect’
- ‘he has been tatting up clients for the last 13 years’
- 1.1Tattoo (a design) on a person or body part.
- ‘the words ‘Only The Strong Survive’ are tatted on his chest’
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