tatty articles or a tatty condition
tasteless articles
a tangled mass
First recorded in 1900–05; back formation from tatting
First recorded in 1980–85; shortening of tattoo 2 ( def. )
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."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Part of that healing process will involve leaning into the humor tat Dodd imbues in his delivery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
He praised Powell’s avoidance of engaging in tit for tat with the president.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
In this tit for tat, though, California’s threats to respond have thus far proved ineffectual.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
Instead of tit for tat, the prime minister is pivoting Canada with precision toward alternative trade blocs like Europe and the Pacific Rim.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2025
It was those different rat, tat, tats that told the men which way to turn, how fast to march, when to load their muskets, and when to shoot.
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
In Arkansas, the TAT enters near West Helena and moves west through the central parts of the state, eventually exiting west of Lincoln.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2015
Intricate webs of village and family loyalties were tested to the limit in affairs such as TAT, the collapse of a savings bank in a pyramid scheme in which some top level officials were implicated.
From After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Vaknin, Samuel
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
“My favorite Laker growing up. I mean, it’s tatted on me. Mr. Kobe Bryant,” said Christopher, who raised his hand to display the Mamba insignia tattoo on his right wrist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2021
She’s a muscular military brat with red-tipped hair; tatted arms, stomach, and neck; and black gauges in her ears.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2021
With much sighing, they chose the tatted collar.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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
“The entrants. In the tatting class. Not so strong.”
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
