tatter

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“
A torn beard's like a tatter'd ensign,

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A torn and hanging piece of cloth; a shred.
  2. noun Torn and ragged clothing; rags.
  3. transitive and intransitive verb To make or become ragged.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Of course a curse was not a thing to be sloughed off like a tatter of flesh! —  Dragon on a Pedestal
  • The village hangs on to the tail of the ruins—not a bad village either, but by comparison it looks like a tatter clinging to an empress's diamond-bespangled train. —  The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton Volume II
  • Thursday: Breakfast - Breakfast burrito, cold cereal, juice, milk Lunch - Sloppy Joe, tatter tots, pickle spear, fruit, milk, no salad bar. —  Clovis News Journal : News
  • Works by international members of the Textile Society of America discuss how dominant ideologies tatter the cultural heritage of the less dominant and culturally diverse. —  Starbulletin Headlines
  • Lads drunk on new tattoos offer tatter-notes for favours. —  The Rik Files
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English tater, of Scandinavian origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Formerly and dial. also totter; from Middle English *tater (only as in participle adjective tatered, tatird, tattered, and apparently in tatarwag), from Icelandic töturr, tötturr = Norwegian totra, also taltra, tultre, = Middle Low German talteren, Low German taltern, plural, tatters, rags. Cf. totter, totter.
  2. from Middle English *tateren, in the participle adjective tatered: see tattered.
  3. from Middle English tateren, chatter, jabber, from Middle Dutch tateren, speak shrilly, sound a blast on a trumpet, Dutch tateren, stammer, = Middle Low German tateren, later G. tattern. prattle. Cf. tattle.
  4. from tat + -er.
 

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/ˈtætər/
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