Tattle
(Tat"tle) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tattled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Tattling ] [Akin to OE. tateren, LG. tateln,
D. tateren to stammer, and perhaps to E. titter.]
1. To prate; to talk idly; to use many words with little meaning; to chat.
The tattling quality of age, which is always narrative.
Dryden. 2. To tell tales; to communicate secrets; to be a talebearer; as, a tattling girl.
Tattle
(Tat"tle), n. Idle talk or chat; trifling talk; prate.
[They] told the tattle of the day.
Swift. Tattler
(Tat"tler) n.
1. One who tattles; an idle talker; one who tells tales. Jer. Taylor.
2. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of large, long-legged sandpipers belonging to the genus Totanus.
The common American species are the greater tattler, or telltale the smaller tattler, or lesser yellowlegs
(T. flavipes), the solitary tattler and the semipalmated tattler, or willet. The first two are called also telltale,
telltale spine, telltale tattler, yellowlegs, yellowshanks, and yelper.
Tattlery
(Tat"tler*y) n. Idle talk or chat; tittle-tattle.
Tattling
(Tat"tling) a. Given to idle talk; apt to tell tales. — Tat"tling*ly, adv.
Tattoo
(Tat*too") n. [Earlier taptoo, D. taptoe; tap a tap, faucet + toe to, shut (i. e., the taps, or drinking
houses, shut from the soldiers).] (Mil.) A beat of drum, or sound of a trumpet or bugle, at night, giving
notice to soldiers to retreat, or to repair to their quarters in garrison, or to their tents in camp.
The Devil's tattoo. See under Devil.
Tattoo
(Tat*too"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tattooed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Tattooing.] [Of Polynesian origin; cf.
New Zealand ta to tattoo, tatu puncturation ] To color, as the flesh, by pricking in coloring matter, so
as to form marks or figures which can not be washed out.
