TATTOO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tattoo mean? 

• TATTOO (noun)
  The noun TATTOO has 3 senses:

1. a drumbeat or bugle call that signals the military to return to their quarters

2. a design on the skin made by tattooing

3. the practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining

  Familiarity information: TATTOO used as a noun is uncommon.

• TATTOO (verb)
  The verb TATTOO has 1 sense:

1. stain (skin) with indelible color

  Familiarity information: TATTOO used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TATTOO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A drumbeat or bugle call that signals the military to return to their quarters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("tattoo" is a kind of...):

bugle call (a signal broadcast by the sound of a bugle)

drumbeat ((military) the beating of a drum as a signal for lowering the flag at sundown)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A design on the skin made by tattooing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tattoo" is a kind of...):

design; figure; pattern (a decorative or artistic work)

Derivation:

tattoo (stain (skin) with indelible color)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tattoo" is a kind of...):

decoration (the act of decorating something (in the hope of making it more attractive))

Derivation:

tattoo (stain (skin) with indelible color)

• TATTOO (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tattoo    ... he / she / it tattoos   
Past simple: tattooed   
Past participle: tattooed   
-ing form: tattooing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stain (skin) with indelible color

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "tattoo" is one way to...):

stain (color with a liquid dye or tint)

"Tattoo" entails doing...:

prick; prickle (make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something on somebody

Derivation:

tattoo (the practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining)

tattoo (a design on the skin made by tattooing)

 Context examples 

Tattoos are designs on the skin made with needles and colored ink.

(Piercing and Tattoos, NIH)

It was tattooed in several places.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A half-dressed boatman, standing next me, pointed with his bare arm (a tattoo'd arrow on it, pointing in the same direction) to the left.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The dying man beat a tattoo on the hatch with his heels, straightened out his legs, and stiffened in one great tense effort, and rolled his head from side to side.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Then followed the wild upward leap and tattoo of flutters, the pressing as of an iron band about his forehead, the creeping of the dizziness into his brain.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When you bared your arm to draw that fish into the boat I saw that J.A. had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A powerful combination of observations and computer simulations is giving new clues to how the moon got its mysterious tattoos — swirling patterns of light and dark found at over a hundred locations across the lunar surface.

(NASA Research Gives New Insights into How the Moon Got 'Inked', NASA)

Permanent makeup is a type of tattoo.

(Piercing and Tattoos, NIH)

I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)