tattoo

noun

1. An image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle.

   “His shirt sleeves were turned up, so upon his brawny arms his tattooes were visible.”

   “Nothing pleases a Burman more than to be asked to show his tattooes. He is as delighted as a collector of curios in England. They consist of a series of pictures of tigers, lions, elephants, dragons, demons, and what-not, surrounded by mottoes invoking good fortune, and round waist and knees the whole is framed by a neat floral or scroll pattern.”

   “Almost a century and a half after the De Soto Expedition, Joutel (Cox, 1905, II: 139–140), one of La Salle’s men, reacted to the Caddoes in much the same way as had De la Vega, finding their tattooes particularly repulsive. The Caddoes used needles or other sharp-pointed objects to prick the skin until the blood flowed, and then rubbed powdered charcoal into the wounds. When the wounds healed, the charcoal remaining under the skin made striking tattooes.”

   “Victor was spot on, of course; in fact, I have often been tempted to seek him out when I have been plagued by diseases of the heart. He'd be able to tell me in ten seconds whether someone was worth a tattoo or not.”

   “And here's a solution to an age old tattoo problem. If your girlfriend's name, say, "Suzie," is tattooed on your arm, and you break up with her, don't have the tattoo removed. Just have the tattoo reworked so it says, "Fuck Suzie."”

2. A method of decorating a body part, usually the skin, by inserting colored substances under the surface with a sharp instrument (usually a solenoid-driven needle).
3. (countable, uncountable)A signal played five minutes before taps (lights out).

   “Study goes on until tattoo, which, when Pops was at the Point, was sounded at 9.30, followed by taps at 10.”

4. (countable, uncountable)A signal by drum or bugle ordering soldiers to return to their quarters.

   “The bumblebee's mane glowed in the morning light—each hair sharp and distinct to Eragon—and its blurred wings generated a gentle bombilation, like a tattoo played on a drum.”

5. (countable, uncountable)A military display or pageant.
6. (countable, uncountable)A rhythmic tapping.

   “the right hand became restless and began to beat out a silent tattoo upon the tabletop”

7. A pony of a certain breed from India.

verb

1. To apply a tattoo to (someone or something).

   “She made Silas tattoo an anchor on her arm like his”

2. To hit the ball hard, as if to figuratively leave a tattoo on the ball.

   “Jones tattoos one into the gap in left; that will clear the bases.”

3. To tap rhythmically on, to drum.

   “He had looked at the clock many scores of times; and at the street, where the rain was pattering down, and the people as they clinked by in pattens, left long reflections on the shining stone: he tattooed at the table: he bit his nails most completely […]”