tattered

English

Alternative forms

• tottered

Etymology

From Middle English tatered, tatird, from Old Norse. Originally, it was derived from the noun, but it was later it reanalysed as a past participle (tatter +‎ -ed), whereafter the verb came into being. Compare tatter.

Adjective

tattered (not comparable)

1. rent in tatters, torn, hanging in rags; ragged
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     The chattering, irrational brute of the subconscious clothes itself in the tattered garments of rationality and idealism.

2. dressed in tatters or rags; ragged
   • 1895 October 1, Stephen Crane, chapter 10, in The Red Badge of Courage, 1st US edition, New York: D. Appleton and Company, page 101:

     The tattered man waved his hand.

3. (obsolete) dilapidated; showing gaps or breaks; jagged; broken

Related terms

• tatty
• tatterdemalion

Translations

ragged and torn

• Finnish: resuinen
• French: abîmé (fr), en loques, en haillons
• Irish: adhastrach
• Italian: stracciato (it), a brandelli, liso (it)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: شڕوشاڵ‎ (shiRoshAL)

• Maori: tāreperepe
• Occitan: esparracat
• Russian: дра́ный (ru) (drányj), рва́ный (ru) (rványj), обо́рванный (ru) (obórvannyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: poderan (sh), razderan, prnjav (sh), dronjav (sh)
• Spanish: andrajoso (es) m

dressed in tatters or rags

• Finnish: resuinen
• Galician: adán, albardeiro (gl), badanas (gl), baldreo, baldroeiro, baldrogas, bandalleiro, bandallo, brégolas (gl), calazas, capiceiro, esfarrapado, fargallón, farrapeiro, farrapento, farroupeiro, galdrapeiro, palafustrán, pastrán, pelandrán, pingallo, pingón, torgallo, touporroutou, vascalleiro, vascallo, zalapastrán, zampallán, zampallón

• Portuguese: esfarrapado (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: prnjav (sh), dronjav (sh)

Verb

tattered

1. simple past tense and past participle of tatter

References

• tattered in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “tattered”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.