tatter

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtætə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tater, from Old Norse tǫturr, from Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz (“tuft, patch”). Cognate with Icelandic tötur (“rag, tatter”).

Noun

tatter (plural tatters)

1. A shred of torn cloth; an individual item of torn and ragged clothing.
   • 1896, “Well You're a Pretty Kind of Fellow”, William S. Gilbert (lyrics), Sir Arthur Sullivan (music):

     You can’t – you shan’t – you don’t – you won’t – you thing of rag and tatter, O!

Translations

A shred of torn cloth

Bulgarian: дрипа (bg) f (dripa), парцал (bg) m (parcal) Catalan: drap (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 碎布 (zh) Czech: hadr (cs) m, cár (cs) m Esperanto: drapaĉo Finnish: riekale (fi), riepu (fi) French: lambeau (fr) m Galician: trapo (gl) m, farrapo (gl) m, galdrapa (gl) f, aldraxe (gl) m German: Lumpen (de) m, Fetzen (de) m Greek: Ancient: λακίς f (lakís) Ido: rago (io) Ingrian: hohla, räpäle Italian: cencio (it) m, straccio (it) m, strofinaccio (it) m Occitan: pedaç (oc) m, esquinç m, limbèl m Ottoman Turkish: پاچاوره (paçavra), خرقه (hırka) Portuguese: rasgo (pt), trapo (pt), farrapo (pt) m Romanian: zdreanță (ro) f

Verb

tatter (third-person singular simple present tatters, present participle tattering, simple past and past participle tattered)

1. (transitive) To destroy an article of clothing etc. by shredding.
2. (intransitive) To fall into tatters.

Translations

to destroy by shredding

Czech: rozdírat impf, rozedrat pf, roztrhat (cs) pf

to fall into tatters

Czech: rozedrat se pf

Etymology 2

From tat +‎ -er.

Noun

tatter (plural tatters)

1. A person engaged in tatting.

Translations

A person engaged in tatting

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

Verb

tatter

1. inflection of tattern:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative