tat
verb (used with or without object)
to do tatting, or make (knotted lace) by tatting.
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tat
1 American
[tat]
/ tæt /
verb (used with or without object)
tatted,
tatting
tat
2
American
[tat]
/ tæt /
noun
verb (used with or without object)
tatted,
tatting
TAT
3
American
abbreviation
Psychology.
tat
1
British
/ tæt /
noun
-
tatty articles or a tatty condition
-
tasteless articles
-
a tangled mass
tat
2
British
/ tæt /
verb
tat
3
British
/ tæt /
noun
tat
4
British
/ tæt /
noun
tat
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of tat1
First recorded in 1900–05; back formation from tatting
Origin of tat2
First recorded in 1980–85; shortening of tattoo 2 ( def. )
Explanation
To tat is to make lace. Tatting involves making loops and tying knots in a long piece of thread over and over again. Most of the lace made today is created with a machine, and the ability to tat, or make lace by hand, is rare. Tatting requires a lot of silk or cotton thread and either a metal disc called a "shuttle," needles, or a crochet hook. You may also find tat used as a noun to mean "cheap, tasteless stuff," or informally to mean "tattoo," as in "Hey, I love the new tat on your shoulder."
Vocabulary lists containing tat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Part of that healing process will involve leaning into the humor tat Dodd imbues in his delivery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
"It started off in a proper 'us v them', tit for tat thing between the people and the council," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
He praised Powell’s avoidance of engaging in tit for tat with the president.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
“The concern for the public and for representative democracy is that you’re going to have a lot of tit for tat moving forward,” Skelley told Salon.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2025
And he never stopped hearing those British battle drums, that ghostly RAT, tat, tat, tat, tat.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
“I see myself as part of a mobile army, and we travel our nation’s highways and byways and we work in conjunction with law enforcement,” Gary Smith, an ambassador with TAT said.
From Fox News ● Jun. 15, 2019
The prospect of sending Aidan up alone with a bunch of people she’d never met before made me uneasy, but I had consulted the travel record for TAT online; it was excellent.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2016
The family have now been allowed to leave hospital and Mr and Mrs Owen are expected to return to the UK next week while their son has returned to Singapore, the TAT said.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2016
The TAT suggests where to stop each day for fuel, but many of the shops are so remote, and so small, they may not have consistent hours.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2015
In Macedonia, a savings bank named TAT collapsed in 1997, erasing the economy of an entire major city, Bitola.
From Crime and Corruption by Samuel Vaknin
“It was really nice because she’s the horror woman. She’s tatted up — I have a biker family. She has the devil on this arm and the angel on this arm. She’s a punk Chicana.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
He is tatted, burly, and often dressed in black, with just enough gray in his beard to scan as learned.
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2026
In his “6:16 in LA,” Mr. Lamar mentions the pizza restaurant Lucali, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn: “My visa, passport tatted, I show up in Ibiza, Lucalis dwellings in Brooklyn just to book me some pizza.”
From New York Times ● May 6, 2024
The tatted head of a ruby octopus peers though the patio fences of Reuben’s Brews in Ballard.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2021
He wraps his arm around my shoulder, pointing me out to this tatted Latino guy who sits at the soundboard and a white woman with a ponytail.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Thousands of young women were given an education and a portable skill, their equipment — tatting shuttle, thread, needles, crochet hooks — small enough to fit in a pocket, and take to America.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2016
From the outside it's kind of amusing to think of you as a prisoner in your own home as your mother-in-law takes over the porch with her tatting and smoking.
From Slate ● May 29, 2013
Or as the milestone is better known in body-art circles, tatting 300.
From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2012
Last year has to be one of the worst episodes of senatorial tatting in history.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2012
Her skirt was turned back, showing a petticoat of red knitted yarn with tatting around the edge.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
