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View synonyms for tattoo

tattoo

1

[ ta-too ]

noun

, plural tat·toos.
  1. a signal on a drum, bugle, or trumpet at night, for soldiers or sailors to go to their quarters.
  2. a knocking or strong pulsation:

    My heart beat a tattoo on my ribs.

  3. British. an outdoor military pageant or display.


tattoo

2

[ ta-too ]

noun

, plural tat·toos.
  1. the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, legends, etc., by making punctures in it and inserting pigments.
  2. a pattern, picture, legend, etc., so made.

verb (used with object)

, tat·tooed, tat·too·ing.
  1. to mark (the skin) with tattoos.
  2. to put (tattoos) on the skin.

tattoo

1

/ tæˈtuː /

verb

  1. to make (pictures or designs) on (the skin) by pricking and staining with indelible colours
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. a design made by this process
  2. the practice of tattooing
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tattoo

2

/ tæˈtuː /

noun

  1. (formerly) a signal by drum or bugle ordering the military to return to their quarters
  2. a military display or pageant, usually at night
  3. any similar beating on a drum, etc
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • tatˈtooer, noun
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Other Words From

  • tat·tooer tat·tooist noun
  • untat·tooed adjective
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Word History and Origins

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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tattoo1

C18: from Tahitian tatau

Origin of tattoo2

C17: from Dutch taptoe, from the command tap toe! turn off the taps! from tap tap of a barrel + toe to shut
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Example Sentences

As Mamerow’s condition progressed, her eyebrows disappeared, the hair now replaced by a subtle tattoo of fine lines designed to replicate eyebrows.

From Ozy

Luckily for Gelsinger’s marriage, the tattoo was only temporary and the photo was staged.

From Fortune

If tattoo pigments are too small, the immune system rapidly clears them from the skin and the tattoo disappears.

They demonstrated the cancer-detecting tattoo in living mice.

You can’t walk into a doctor’s office and get a dynamic tattoo yet, but they are on the way.

The findings revealed that, in 1999, only 21 percent of Americans claimed someone in their household had a tattoo.

Her make-up includes two tattoo-like designs on both temples.

There was one guy who had a tattoo of me on his inner thigh.

Look at The Killing, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, all of these Scandinavian things with female investigators.

Kastigar still had the tattoo, but he had grown a beard and lost a front tooth.

There was a quiet, cynical smile on his face as he sat there beating a tattoo on his leggings with a hickory twig.

Suddenly the old man beat a tattoo on his cranium and closed his eyes, apparently deep in thought.

Inside—no sound, except the Factor's deep breathing, and an irregular tattoo, produced by Denton's heels tapping upon the floor.

But it seemed no use knocking, and Wildney at last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo on the bedroom door.

Huge black grasshoppers played the jew's-harp, while the owl beat a tattoo on its own body, having no better drum.

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