tattoo

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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A tattoo (image made in skin)

From earlier tattaow, tattow, a borrowing from a Polynesian language, e.g. Samoan tatau (“tattoo; to tap, to strike”).

Noun

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tattoo (plural tattoos or (uncommon) tattooes)

  2. An image made in the skin with ink and a needle.
    • [1890], John Law [pseudonym; Margaret Harkness], “George, the Caretaker”, in A City Girl. A Realistic Story., 2nd edition, London: Authors’ Co-operative Publishing Co., Ltd. […], →OCLC, page 21; reprinted as A City Girl. A Realistic Story. (Novels of the 18th & 19th Century), London: British Library, Historical Print Editions, [2015], →OCLC:
      His shirt sleeves were turned up, so upon his brawny arms his tattooes were visible.
    • 1898, W[illiam] S[proston] Caine, “Burma”, in Picturesque India: A Handbook for European Travellers, London: George Routledge and Sons Limited; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton and Co., →OCLC, page 622:
      Nothing pleases a Burman more than to be asked to show his tattooes. He is as delighted as a collector of curios in England. They consist of a series of pictures of tigers, lions, elephants, dragons, demons, and what-not, surrounded by mottoes invoking good fortune, and round waist and knees the whole is framed by a neat floral or scroll pattern.
    • 1961, W[illiam] W[ilmon] Newcomb, Jr., “The Caddo Confederacies: East Texas”, in The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, published 1965 (3rd printing), →LCCN, part IV (Barbaric Gardeners), page 289:
      Almost a century and a half after the De Soto Expedition, Joutel (Cox, 1905, II: 139–140), one of La Salle’s men, reacted to the Caddoes in much the same way as had De la Vega, finding their tattooes particularly repulsive. The Caddoes used needles or other sharp-pointed objects to prick the skin until the blood flowed, and then rubbed powdered charcoal into the wounds. When the wounds healed, the charcoal remaining under the skin made striking tattooes.
    • 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 22:
      Victor was spot on, of course; in fact, I have often been tempted to seek him out when I have been plagued by diseases of the heart. He'd be able to tell me in ten seconds whether someone was worth a tattoo or not.
    • 1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings‎[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 31:
      And here's a solution to an age old tattoo problem. If your girlfriend's name, say, "Suzie," is tattooed on your arm, and you break up with her, don't have the tattoo removed. Just have the tattoo reworked so it says, "Fuck Suzie."
  4. A method of decorating the skin by inserting colored substances under the surface with a sharp instrument (usually a solenoid-driven needle).
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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tattoo (third-person singular simple present tattoos, present participle tattooing, simple past and past participle tattooed)

  1. To apply a tattoo to (someone or something).
  2. (baseball) To hit the ball hard, as if to figuratively leave a tattoo on the ball.
    Jones tattoos one into the gap in left; that will clear the bases.
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Derived terms
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Terms derived from the noun or verb tattoo
Translations
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Further reading

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Etymology 2

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From earlier tap-to, borrowed from Dutch taptoe, from tap (“tap; faucet on a cask”) + toe (“to; shut”). More at tap, to.

Noun

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tattoo (countable and uncountable, plural tattoos)

  1. (nautical) A signal played five minutes before taps (lights out).
    • 2017, Charles King, Cadet Days:
      Study goes on until tattoo, which, when Pops was at the Point, was sounded at 9.30, followed by taps at 10.
  2. (military) A signal by drum or bugle ordering soldiers to return to their quarters.
  3. (military) A military display or pageant.
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See also

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Verb

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tattoo (third-person singular simple present tattoos, present participle tattooing, simple past and past participle tattooed)

  1. To tap rhythmically on, to drum.
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 22, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
      He had looked at the clock many scores of times; and at the street, where the rain was pattering down, and the people as they clinked by in pattens, left long reflections on the shining stone: he tattooed at the table: he bit his nails most completely […]

Further reading

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Etymology 3

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From Hindi टट्टू (ṭaṭṭū).

Noun

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tattoo (plural tattoos)

  1. A pony of a certain breed from India.
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