tailor

¹ American  

[tey-ler] / ˈteɪ lər /

noun

British Dialect.

1. a stroke of a bell indicating someone's death; knell.

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tailor ² American  

[tey-ler] / ˈteɪ lər /

noun

1. a person whose occupation is the making, mending, or altering of clothes, especially suits, coats, and other outer garments.

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verb (used with object)

1. to make by tailor's work.

2. to fashion or adapt to a particular taste, purpose, need, etc..

   to tailor one's actions to those of another.

3. to fit or furnish with clothing.

4. Chiefly U.S. Military. to make (a uniform) to order; cut (a ready-made uniform) so as to cause to fit more snugly; taper.

verb (used without object)

1. to do the work of a tailor.

tailor British  

/ ˈteɪlə /

noun

1. a person who makes, repairs, or alters outer garments, esp menswear

2. a voracious and active marine food fish, Pomatomus saltator, of Australia with scissor-like teeth

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verb

1. to cut or style (material, clothes, etc) to satisfy certain requirements

2. (tr) to adapt so as to make suitable for something specific

   he tailored his speech to suit a younger audience

3. (intr) to follow the occupation of a tailor

Etymology

Origin of tailor¹

Alteration by folk etymology of teller

Origin of tailor¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English (noun), from Anglo-French tailour, Old French tailleor, from taill(ier) “to cut” (from Late Latin tāliāre, derivative of Latin tālea “rod, cutting,” literally, “heel-piece”; tally ) + -or -or ²

Example Sentences

"The core innovation lies in the nonlinear metasurface that converts shaped near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses into tailored terahertz toroidal light pulses," said first author Li Niu from Tianjin University, who conducted the experiments.

From Science Daily

The trouble is the proposed course of study wasn’t tailored to what I do.

From The Wall Street Journal

There in her case was the tailoring department of the clothing store my family owned, where Olka had recently started working as a seamstress.

From Literature

This means any measures to tackle these cancers would need to be tailored to each region or country.

From BBC

The opening finds her futzing over the neckline of her inauguration day blouse before telling the tailors to slice into the fabric with scissors.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accommodate
• adapt
• alter
• conform
• fit
• modify