Tattoo Definition

tă-to͝o

tattooed, tattooing, tattoos

noun

A tattooed mark or design.

Webster's New World

A signal on a drum or bugle, summoning military personnel to their quarters at night.

Webster's New World

In Great Britain, a military spectacle featuring music, marching, and military exercises.

Webster's New World

Any continuous drumming or rapping.

Webster's New World

A permanent mark or design made on the skin by a process of pricking and ingraining an indelible pigment or by raising scars.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
rapping
bugle call
drum signal
tapping
brand
symbol
design

verb

To beat out an even rhythm, as with the fingers.

American Heritage

To mark (the skin) with a tattoo.

American Heritage

To leave permanent marks or designs on (a person or a part of the body) by puncturing the skin with a needle and inserting ink or other indelible pigments.

Webster's New World

To form (a tattoo) on the skin.

American Heritage

To make (marks or designs) on a person or part of the body in this way.

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Tattoo

Noun

Singular:

tattoo

Plural:

tattoos

Origin of Tattoo

Alteration of Dutch taptoe tap-shut (closing time for taverns), tattoo tap spigot, tap (from Middle Dutch tappe) toe shut (from Middle Dutch de- in Indo-European roots)

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Tahitian tatau and kindred Polynesian words, all from Proto-Polynesian tatau

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Hindi tattÅ«.[Devanagari?]

From Wiktionary
From Samoan tatau (“to tap").

From Wiktionary
From Dutch taptoe.

From Wiktionary