tattoo
1 Americannoun
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tattoos
plural
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a signal on a drum, bugle, or trumpet at night, for soldiers or sailors to go to their quarters.
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a knocking or strong pulsation.
My heart beat a tattoo on my ribs.
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British. an outdoor military pageant or display.
noun
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tattoos
plural
-
the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, legends, etc., by making punctures in it and inserting pigments.
-
a pattern, picture, legend, etc., so made.
verb (used with object)
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tattoos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tattooed,
past participle, past
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tattooing
present participle
-
to mark (the skin) with tattoos.
-
to put (tattoos) on the skin.
noun
-
(formerly) a signal by drum or bugle ordering the military to return to their quarters
-
a military display or pageant, usually at night
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any similar beating on a drum, etc
verb
noun
-
a design made by this process
-
the practice of tattooing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tattoosimple
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tattoossimple
-
have tattooedperfect
-
has tattooedperfect
-
am tattooingprogressive
-
are tattooingprogressive
-
is tattooingprogressive
-
have been tattooingperfect progressive
-
has been tattooingperfect progressive
Past
-
tattooedsimple
-
had tattooedperfect
-
was tattooingprogressive
-
were tattooingprogressive
-
had been tattooingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tattoo1
First recorded in 1570–80; earlier taptoo, from Dutch taptoe, literally, “shut tap,” from tap “spigot, tap” + toe “closed, shut”; cognate with tap 2 ( def. ), to ( def. )
Origin of tattoo2
First recorded in 1760–70; from Marquesan tatu; replacing tattow, from Tahitian tatau
Explanation
A tattoo is a permanent design made on skin with a needle and ink. If you want a butterfly tattoo but you're scared of needles, you might settle for a temporary version. The word tattoo is also a verb meaning stain the skin using needles and ink. It's probably a good idea to wait until you've been dating someone for more than a week before you tattoo their name on your arm. In music, a tattoo is continuous drumming, and a military tattoo is a drum or bugle that signals soldiers to return to their quarters at the end of the day.
Vocabulary lists containing tattoo
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 1
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
In the process, Wilson meets other eccentric characters that share his passion of filmmaking but have their own interests, like clearing gum from a sidewalk, immortalizing a person’s tattoo after they’re dead, and music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
New York remains a restless town where you can get a steak dinner and a tattoo of Joey Ramone with Joe Franklin etched on your back, long after quitting time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
"But when we showed them the body, one of the women realised it wasn't her husband because there was a tattoo on the arm."
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Artwork by his son Naviyd is featured on the walls, while an enlarged drawing of a tattoo that Usher has on his chin has been turned into a decorative ceiling mural.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Jake rolls up his sleeves, revealing that compass tattoo I first noticed on his right forearm when we were on the train.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
Even today, some older men bear facial tattoos associated with the Konyaks' historical practice of headhunting.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
In the popular imagination, a Viking is tall, broad-shouldered man who wields a sword, and might have a modern haircut like a skin fade or lots of tattoos.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Lanky, with sleeves of tattoos that extend to his neck and wrists, he cuts a striking figure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Covered in tattoos, with his hair in a long braid, 35-year-old Australian DJ and former boy-band member Lenny Pearce looks more like an all-night raver than a children’s host.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
“It’s alive, you know,” says the master-at-arms—a seasoned crewman in charge of the cannon, with unpleasant tattoos up and down his arms.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Dr Konyak points to explorers, colonial officials, missionaries and photographers drawn to tattooed faces, ornaments, weapons and headhunting, while the lives behind them often receded from view.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Sally, reluctant though she is, immediately connects with the tattooed professor, even if there is a red flag or two waving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
In several of her novels, Ms. Mandel has had characters with beloved quotations tattooed on their bodies, a practice that inspired a real-life trend of the author’s fans being inked with lines from her books.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Or a new generation of candidates – tattooed veterans, mechanics, bartenders – whose biography is supposed to do the political work that policy has not.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
When we were showered and tattooed and dressed again, we were taken to our new barracks.
From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz
Even if the choice of this outfit is that Wang is soft-launching his stick-and-poke tattooing side hustle, it’s still a conscious choice.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026
Just days before, South Korea's top court had overturned its 1992 ruling that defined tattooing as a medical act - bringing to an end Korean tattooists' decades-long fight for legitimacy.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
“You’re not tattooing your face. You’re painting your walls,” she says as a way to encourage others to experiment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
“People started tattooing ‘Dios Por Delante’ on their forearms and neck and that’s when we realized that this was more than music, it’s a movement,” Joel said of the impact of the latter song.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
But doing so would be like tattooing “I am up to no good” on my forehead.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
