tatters
English
editEtymology
editCognate with Old English tættec, tætteca.[1][2]
Pronunciation
editNoun
edittatters pl (plural only)
- (plural only) Ragged clothing or fabric, paper, etc.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Carpet-Bag”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10:
- The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. Poor Lazarus there, chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his pillow, and shaking off his tatters with his shiverings, he might plug up both ears with rags, and put a corn-cob into his mouth, and yet that would not keep out the tempestuous Euroclydon.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editragged clothing, fabric, paper etc
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Noun
edittatters
Verb
edittatters
- third-person singular simple present indicative of tatter
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ “tatter”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “tatter”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.