tat

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tat"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Tatar.

Symbol

tat

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Tatar.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Tatar terms

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tæt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

From Hindi टाट (ṭāṭ, “thick canvas”).

Noun

tat (countable and uncountable, plural tats)

1. (uncountable, British) Cheap and vulgar tastelessness; sleaze.
2. (uncountable, British) Cheap, tasteless, useless goods; trinkets.

   tourist tat

   • 2004 May 28, Thomas Sutcliffe, “Why Britart is a burning issue”, in The Independent‎:

     And it agreed with the editorial cartoon which featured a newsman doing a live report in front of a smouldering building and saying, "And it seems millions of pounds of meaningless tat has been lost to the nation for ever."

3. (countable, India) Gunny cloth made from the fibre of the Corchorus olitorius (jute).

Translations

vulgar tastelessness — see sleaze

Etymology 2

Unknown. Perhaps the same as etymology 1, above, or perhaps a back-formation from tatting. Attested since the 19th century.

Verb

tat (third-person singular simple present tats, present participle tatting, simple past and past participle tatted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make (something by) tatting.

Translations

to produce by tatting

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: käpyillä

References

• “tatting, n.1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2013.

Etymology 3

From Hindi टट्टू (ṭaṭṭū, “pony”).

Alternative forms

• tattoo, tatt

Noun

tat (plural tats)

1. (India, archaic) A pony.
   • 1879, Val Cameron Prinsep, Glimpses of Imperial India, page 206:

     And so each morning before daybreak I am up, and having dispatched my luggage on the backs of coolies after much noise and bustle, without which no natives can work, I mount my tat as the sun begins to touch the higher hills, and start on my morning ride of twelve miles.

Etymology 4

Clipping of tattoo; see further etymology there.

Noun

tat (plural tats)

1. (slang) A tattoo.
   • 1998 November 17, “Americana” (track 22), in Supercharged: Worldwide in '25‎, performed by The Offspring:

     Now give me my cable, fast food, four-by's, tats, right away I want it now.

   • 1999 September 14, “I Can't Wait” (track 2), in Nigga Please‎, performed by Ol' Dirty Bastard:

     I'm diplomatic playing pen and pad. Rat-a-tat, you're a scaredy-catcause I have a tat put you up like that. You can't stand that cause you've got to scat.

   • 1999 December 21, “Killuminati” (track 11), in Still I Rise‎, performed by Tupac and Outlawz:

     Me and my thugs clock G's, sippin' naughty thangs. Real as these tats on my body, and it's Killuminati.

Derived terms

• bitch tat
• knuckle-tat

Verb

tat (third-person singular simple present tats, present participle tatting, simple past and past participle tatted)

1. (slang, transitive) To apply a tattoo.
   • 2016 May 5, Fifth Harmony, “Write on Me”, 7/27, Epic Records, Sysco Music

     Write on me / Love the way you tat me up

Derived terms

• tat up

Translations

slang: tattoo — see tattoo

Etymology 5

Noun

tat (plural tats)

1. (UK, gambling, slang, archaic) Alternative form of tatt (“a die, especially one that is loaded”).

Etymology 6

Noun

tat (plural tats)

1. Alternative form of tatty (“kind of woven mat or screen”).

Etymology 7

Noun

tat (plural tats)

1. Some small thing, especially that which is exchanged tit for tat.
   • 1920, The Creighton Chronicle, page 294:

     The article seems an attempt at tit-for-tat; but there is too little tat, even in Bedouins, to provoke such a maze of tit as is found in “'Bedouins' and Nomads.”

   • 1999 May 18, D. Reisman, Conserative Capitalism: The Social Economy, Springer, →ISBN, page 122:

     [...] insecurity, anger engender the excessive retaliation of two tits for a tat that leads not to damping-down but to [escalation].

   • 2002 May 1, G.H. Spaulding, C-C-Cold War Syndrome Or, Remember, It's Break Ground and Fly into the Wind, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

     At the U.S. planning sessions, it was not uncommon to hear someone say, "Just remember, when you're negotiating tit-for-tat, it's better to concede the occasional small tat to your opponent and keep the big tits for yourself."

   • 2006 08, Michael Riggs, Edicts of Ares: 13 Absolute Rules of Warfare, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 112:

     Not tit-for-tat, but more like ten tits for every tat.

   • 2011 March 20, Thunderhead, The Sacred Clown, Thunderhead, →ISBN, page 475:

     “Yeah...and a tiny little tat of a bottle of Grinness on his ankle...” As they rode, a warm-front chased the clouds away and the direct sun and warming air began to melt the snow.

   • 2012 April 17, Gerald L'Ange, The White Africans: From Colonisation To Liberation, Jonathan Ball Publishers, →ISBN:

     If that was a lot of tit for a little tat it didn't bother the French. In the absence of any firm policy in Paris, the military commanders in Algeria began promoting French settlement.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Pamela Morsi, Suburban Renewal, Oliver-Heber books:

     "Why don't you two sit out on the porch while I clean up this little tat of dishes," Gram said. Corrie argued for a minute, but Gram shooed her away and reluctantly we found ourselves alone on the porch swing.

   • 2021 June 29, Alexandra Ivy, Guardians of Eternity Bundle 2, Zebra, →ISBN:

     A little tit for a little tat. He just wanted to get his damned tit so he could be done with the nasty tat. There was an odd shimmer among the shadows, then the outline of Briggs appeared, his crimson eyes glowing like the pits of hell.

See also

• rat-a-tat-tat
• tit for tat
• tatt
• tatting
• tatty

Anagrams

• AT&T, att, att., at&t

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [taːt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːt
• Homophone: Tat

Verb

tat

1. first/third-person singular preterite of tun