tatters

English

Etymology

Cognate with Old English tættec, tætteca.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtætəz/
• (US) enPR: tătʹərz, IPA^(key): /ˈtætɚz/

Noun

tatters pl (plural only)

1. (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

• in tatters
• rags and tatters

Translations

ragged clothing, fabric, paper etc

• Armenian: ցնցոտի (hy) (cʻncʻoti)
• Czech: hadry (cs) m pl
• Finnish: riekale (fi)
• French: haillons (fr) m pl (clothing), guenille (fr) f (clothing)
• Italian: stracci (it)
• Maori: ngetangeta (refers to clothing), hautai
• Russian: кло́чья (ru) m pl (klóčʹja), лохмо́тья (ru) n pl (loxmótʹja)
• Scottish Gaelic: luideagan f pl
• Spanish: jirones (es)
• Tagalog: lawing

Noun

tatters

1. plural of tatter

Verb

tatters

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of tatter

See also

• tatter

Anagrams

• tartest