tatterdemalion 
tatterdemalion (tat"er-de-ma'liou), . [Early 
mod. E. also tatterilemiilUnii, tatterdei/i-<in, 
tatterdemalion, tattertimallion; appar. a fanci- 
ful term, < tatter*. The terminal element is 
obscure ; the de is perhaps used with no more 
precision than in hobbledehoy, and the last part 
may have been orig., as it is now, entirely 
meaningless.] A ragged fellow. 
s will have two or three horses, 
, as well for service as for to eat. 
Capl. John Smith, True Travels, I. 40. 
Why, among so many millions of people, should thou 
and I onely be miserable tottfrdeinalions, rag-a-muffins, 
and lowsy desperates? 
Massinger and Dekker, Virgin-Martyr, iii. 
1 Bent. Mine Host, what's here? 
Host. A Tatterdemalean, that stayes to sit at the Ordi- 
nary to day. 
Heywood, Royal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 31). 
tattered (tat'erd), a. [Formerly and dial, also 
tottered; < ME. tatered, tatird; < tatter* + -ed 2 .] 
1. Rent in tatters ; torn; hanging in rags. 
Whose garment was so totter'd that it was easie to num- 
ber every thred. Lyly, Endymion, v. 1. 
An old book, so tattered and thumb-worn "that it was 
ready to fall piece from piece if he did but turn it over." 
Southey, Bunyan, p. 26. 
2. Dilapidated; showing gaps or breaks ; jag- 
ged; broken. 
His syre a soutere y-suled [sullied] in grees, 
His teeth with toylinge [pulling] of lether tatered as a 
sawe ! Piers Plouman's Cre.de (E. E. T. S.X 1. 753. 
I do not like ruined, tattered cottages. 
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, xviil. 
3. Dressed in tatters or rags ; ragged. 
A hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, lately come from 
swine-keeping. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 2. 37. 
tatterwallop (tat'er-wol-op), . [< tatter* + 
wallop, 'boil,' used figuratively, 'flutter' (?).] 
Tatters; rags in a fluttering state. [Scotch.] 
tattery (tat'er-i), a. [= Icel. totrugr = LG. 
tattrig; as tatter* + -y*.] Abounding in tat- 
ters ; very ragged. 
Jet-black, tattery wig. Carlyle, in Froude, I. 262. 
tattle, n. See tatty 2 . 
tatting 1 (tat'ing), . [Appar. verbal n. of tat*, 
entangle, hence 'weave,' 'knit' (?).] 1. A 
kind of knotted work, done with cotton or linen 
thread with a shuttle, reproducing in make and 
G19S 
2. To gossip; carry tales. See tattling, p. a. 
II. tntnx. To utter idly; blab. 
The midwife and the nurse well made away, 
Then let the ladies tattle what they please. 
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 2. 168. 
tattle (tat'l), n. [< tattle, i\] Prate ; idle talk 
or chat; trifling talk. 
Thus does the old gentleman [Hesiod] give himself up 
to a loose kind of tattle, rather than endeavour after a just 
= Syn. Chatter, Babble, etc. See prattle. 
tattlement (tat'1-ment), n. [< tattle + -ment.] 
Tattle; chatter, [ftare.] 
Poor little Lilias Baillie : tottering about there, with her 
foolish glad tattlement. Carlyle, Baillie the Covenanter. 
tattler (tat'ler). . [Formerly also tatter (as 
in the name of the famous periodical, "The 
Tatler," of Steele and Addison (1709-11), meant 
in the sense of 'the idle talker, the gossip'); 
< tattle + -er*.~] 1. One who tattles; an idle 
talker; a prattler; a telltale. 
Tattlers and busy-bodies . . . are the canker and rust of 
idleness. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, i. 1. 
Whoever keeps an open ear 
For tattlers will be sure to hear 
The trumpet of contention. 
Cowper, Friendship, 1. 98. 
2. In ornith., a bird of the family Scelopacidse 
and genus Totanus in a broad sense ; one of the 
Totftnese; a horseman or gambet: so called 
from the vociferous cries of most of these birds. 
Wandering Tattler (Hetcrascelus incanus). 
Tatting. 
appearance the gimp laces or knotted laces of 
the sixteenth century, and used for doilies, col- 
lars, trimmings, etc. 
How our fathers managed without crochet is a wonder ; 
but I believe some small and feeble substitute existed in 
their time under the name of tatting. 
George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, iii. 
2. The act of making such lace. 
tatting 2 (tat'ing), n. [A corruption of tatty 2 , 
suggested by matting*.'] Same as tatty 2 . 
tatting-shuttle (tat'ing-shut'l), n. A shuttle 
used in making tatting. 
tattle (tat'l), v. ; pret. and pp. tattled, ppr. tat- 
tling. [< ME. "tatelen (< LG. tateln, gabble as 
a goose, tattle), a var. of tateren, chatter, = 
MD. tateren, speak shrilly, sound a call or blast 
on a trumpet, D. tateren, stammer (> G. tattern, 
prattle), etc.: see tatter 2 . Cf. tittle*.] I in- 
trans. 1. To prate; talk idly; use many words 
with little meaning; prattle; chatter; chat. 
When the babe shall . . . begin to tattle and call hir 
Lyly, Euplmes (ed. Arber), p. 129. 
I pray hold on your Resolution to be here the next 
Term, that we may tattle a little of Tom Thumb. 
Howell, Letters, ii. 3. 
When you stop to tattle with some crony servant in the 
same street^ leave your own street-door open. 
Swift, Advice to Servants (General Directions). 
There are many species, of several genera, of all parts of 
the world ; and some are noted for their extensive disper- 
sion, as the wandering tattler of various coasts and is- 
lands of the Pacific. The word is chiefly a book-name, as 
those tattlers which are well known in English-speaking 
countries have other vernacular names, as yellowlegs, yel- 
lowshank, redshank, greenshank, willet; and some of them 
are called sandpipers, with or without qualifying terms. 
See the distinctive names (with various cuts), and also 
Scolopacidse, sandpiper, snipe, Totanus, and cuts under 
greenshank, redshank, Ithyacophilus, ruff, Tringoides, Tryn- 
gites, u-Ulet, and yellowlegs. 
tattlery (tat'ler-i), . [< tattle + -ery.] Idle 
talk or chat. 
tattling (tat'ling), p. a. [PpT.oftattle,r.] Given 
to idle talk ; apt to tell tales ; tale-bearing. 
Fal. She shall not see me : I will ensconce me behind 
the arras. 
Mrs. Ford. Pray you, do so: she's a very tattling woman. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 3. 99. 
Excuse it by the tattling quality of age, which ... is 
always narrative. Dryden, Ded. to tr. of Juvenal. 
tattlingly (tat'ling-li), adv. In a tattling or 
telltale manner. 
tattoo 1 (ta-to'), n. [Formerly taptoo, taptow 
(= Sw. tapto = Russ. tapta), < D. taptoe, the 
tattoo ("taptoe, tap-tow; de taptoe slaaii, to 
beat the tap-tow" Sewel, ed. 1766), lit. a signal 
to put the ' tap to' that is, to close the taps of 
the public houses; < tap, a tap, + toe, to, in 
the sense 'shut, close': see tap*, and to*, adv. 
Cf. LG. tappenslag, G. zapfenstreich, Dan. tap- 
penstreg, tattoo, lit. 'tap-blow, tap-stroke.'] A 
beat of drum and bugle-call at night, giving 
notice to soldiers to repair to their quarters in 
garrison or to their tents in camp; in United 
States men-of-war, a bugle-call or beat of drum 
at 9 P. M. 
The taptoo is used in garrisons and quarters by the beat 
of the drum. 
Silas Taylor, On Gavelkind (ed. 1663), p. 74. (Skeat.) 
Tat-too or Tap-too, the beat of Drum at Night for all 
Soldiers to repair to their Tents in the Field, or to their 
Quarters in a Garrison. It is sometimes call'd The Re- 
treat. E. Phillips, 1706. 
All those whose Hearts are loose and low 
Start if they hear but the Tattoo. Prior, Alma, i. 
The devil's tattoo, a beating or drumming with the fin- 
gers upon a table or other piece of furniture: an indica- 
tion of impatience or absence of mind. 
Lord Steyne made no reply except by beating the Demi's 
tattoo and biting his nails. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, \lviii. 
(ta-to'), j). i. [< tattoo*, n.] To beat 
the tattoo : make a noise like that of the tattoo. 
[Rare.] 
tau 
He hud looked at the clock many scores of times ; . . . 
he tattooed at the table. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxii. 
tattoo 2 (ta-to'), v. t. and ;'. [Also tatoo ; = F. 
tatoucr, < Tahitiau tatu, tattooing, also adj., 
tattooed.] To mark, as the surface of the body, 
with indelible patterns produced by pricking 
the skin and inserting different pigments in the 
punctures. Sailors and others mark the skin with le- 
gends, love-emblems, etc.; and some uncivilized peoples, 
especially the New Zealanders ana the Dyaks of Borneo, 
cover large surfaces of the body with ornamental patterns 
in this way. Tattooing is sometimes ordered by sentence 
of court martial as a punishment instead of branding, as 
by indelibly marking a soldier with D for "deserter," or 
T for "thief." It is also an occasional surgical operation. 
The monster, then the man, 
Tattoo'd or woaded, winter-clad in skins, 
Raw from the prime, and crushing down his mate. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
tattoo 2 (ta-to'), n. [< tattoo 2 , .] A pattern, 
legend, or picture produced by tattooing : used 
also attributively : as, tattoo marks. 
There was a vast variety of tattoos and ornamentation, 
rendering them a serious difficulty to strangers. 
B. F. Burton, Abeokuta, iii. 
tattooage(ta-to'aj),. [=F.tatouage; as tat- 
too 2 + -age.'] Tne practice of tattooing; also, 
a design made by tattooing. [Rare.] 
Above his tattooage of the five crosses, the fellow had a 
picture of two hearts united. 
Thackeray, From Cornhill to Cairo, xiii. 
tattooer (ta-to'er), n. [< fatto2 -f -er*.] One 
who tattooes; especially, one who is expert in 
the art of tattooing. 
tattooing 1 (ta-to'ing), n. [Verbal n. of tattoo*, 
v.~] The sounding of the tattoo; also, a trick 
of beating a tattoo with the fingers. 
The wandering night-winds seemed to bear 
The sounds of a far tattooing. 
Bret Harte, Second Review of the Grand Army. 
Some little blinking, twitching, or tattooing trick which 
quickens as thoughts and words come faster. 
Suck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, V. 162. 
tattooing 2 (ta-to'ing), n. [Formerly also tat- 
tooing; verbal n. of tattoo 2 , v.] 1. The art or 
practice of marking the body as described un- 
der tattoo 2 , r. 
They [the Tahitians] have a custom . . . which they call 
Tattowing. They prick the skin so as just not to fetch 
Mood. Cook, First Voyage, I. xvil. 
2. The pattern, or combination of patterns, so 
produced. 
Tke deep lines of blue tattooing over nose and cheeks 
appear in curious contrast. The Century, XXVII. 919. 
Tattooing of the cornea, a surgical operation practised 
in cases of leucoma, consisting in pricking the cornea 
with needles and rubbing in sepia or lampblack. 
tattooing-needle (ta;-t6'ing-ne"dl), n. A point- 
ed instrument for introducing a pigment be- 
neath the skin, as in tattooing, and for certain 
operations in surgery. 
tatty 1 (tat'i), a. [Also taulie, tawtie; < tate + 
-y*.jl Same as tauted. 
tatty 2 (tat'i), n. ; pi. tatties (-iz). [Also tattie, 
tatta ; < Hind, tatta, dim. fatti, fatyd, a wicker 
frame, a matted shutter.] An East Indian 
matting made from the fiber of the cuscus-grass, 
which has a pleasant fragrance. It is used espe- 
cially for hangings to fill door- and window-openings 
during the season of the hot dry winds, when it is always 
kept wet. 
He described . . . the manner in which they kept them- 
selves cool in hot weather, with punkahs, tatties, and 
other contrivances. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, iv. 
tatu, . Same as tatou. 
Tatusia (ta-tu'si-a), n. [NL. (Lesson, 1827), < 
F. tatugie (F. Cuvier, 1825), < tatu or tatow, q. v.] 
A genus of armadillos, typical of the family 
Tatusiidee. It contains the peba, T. novemcincta (usu- 
ally called Dasypus notxmcinctus), notable as the only ar- 
madillo of the United States. It extends into Texas, and 
Is thence called Texan armadillo. (See cut under peba.) 
The long-eared armadillo, or mule-nrmadillo. T. hybridvs, 
is found on the pampas, and other species exist. 
tatusiid (ta-tu'si-id), a. and n. I. a. Of or 
pertaining to the family Tatusiidse. 
II. n. An armadillo of this family. 
Tatusiidae (tat-u-si'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Tatusia 
+ idee.'] A family of armadillos, typified by 
the genus Tatusia ; the pebas and related forms. 
They are near the Dasypodidse proper, and have usually 
been included in that family. The carapace is separated 
into fore and hind parts by a variable number (as six to 
nine) of intervening movable rings or zones, and the feet 
are somewhat peculiar in the relative proportions of the 
digits. The family ranges from Texas to Paraguay. Also 
Tatusiina, as a subfamily of Dasypodidte. See cut under 
peba. 
tau (ta), n. [< Gr. rav, tau, name of the Greek 
character T, r, < Phenician (Heb.) tar.] 1. 
In ichth., the toadfish, Satr/iclnin tun. 2. In 
entom. : () A beetle. (6) A phalcenid moth. 
(c) A fly. 3. In her., same as tau-cross. 
