tat
1to do tatting, or make (knotted lace) by tatting.
Origin of tat
1Words Nearby tat
Other definitions for tat (2 of 3)
a pattern, words, or piece of art inked indelibly into the skin by making punctures in it and inserting pigments; tattoo: She was normally proud of her tats, but she wore long-sleeved blouses to cover them while interviewing for elementary school teaching positions.
to mark (the skin) with tattoos, or put (tattoos) on the skin (often followed by up): I want to get really tatted up, but I’m planning each piece carefully and taking my time—you only get one canvas for this art.
Origin of tat
2Other definitions for TAT (3 of 3)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tat in a sentence
Given the potential for a cyber tit-for-tat to escalate, Obama has even more incentive to find a diplomatic solution.
Obama Could Hit China to Punish North Korea | Shane Harris, Tim Mak | December 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOther feminist sites have championed objectifying men in tit-for-tat fashion as empowering women.
Full Frontal Disney: Feminism's Nudity Double Standard | Emily Shire | August 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA lot of newspaper columns used to be written in a rat-a-tat-tat, fast-paced style—and they tended to be funny.
This series of tit-for-tat bombings has created the most violent and volatile dynamic in Lebanon since the end of the civil war.
Is Syria Being 'Lebanized' or is Lebanon Being 'Syrianized'? | Hussein Ibish | August 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTSince then, we've been locked in an escalating tit for tat war in which the loser is our increasingly empty federal court system.
Who's to Blame for the Congressional Judicial Meltdown? Everybody. | Megan McArdle | March 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
I was here a little while ago and nobody answered my knock, though I could hear that typewriter going rat, tat, tat all the time.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonOur ears were deafened by the sharp rat-tat-tat of the machine guns, and by our own frantic anti-aircraft fire.
The Romance of His Life | Mary CholmondeleyAnd yet the one is as good as the other: pass for pass, tit for tat, a Roland for an Oliver.
The Pocket R.L.S. | Robert Louis StevensonThat's why I don't mind tackling cabmen—they sit all day, and all they've got to say is 'rat-tat,' and they've done.
Rhoda Fleming, Complete | George MeredithIn a few minutes we were replying in volume, and the rat-tat-tats of the machine-guns on either side were continuous.
War in the Garden of Eden | Kermit Roosevelt
British Dictionary definitions for tat (1 of 4)
/ (tæt) /
to make (something) by tatting
Origin of tat
1British Dictionary definitions for tat (2 of 4)
/ (tæt) /
tatty articles or a tatty condition
tasteless articles
a tangled mass
Origin of tat
2British Dictionary definitions for tat (3 of 4)
/ (tæt) /
short for tattoo 2 (def. 2)
British Dictionary definitions for tat (4 of 4)
/ (tæt) /
See tit for tat
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with tat
see tit for tat.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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