tatter
14
5.6
- noun
- /ˈtætər/
- Archaic
:
harapo
- The Supreme Junta's plans to retake Madrid were in tatters and southern Spain was now wide open to French attack.
- clothes in tatters
Examples
-
Seven years ago, Dan's divorce had just come through and his ex-wife had left his heart in tatters.
-
The wool quilt, made by my grandmother, is almost in tatters, but she refuses to sleep with anything else.
Fiction book (1998) -
Caudell's clothes were tatters by afternoon, but he did not care.
Fiction book (1992) -
That old thing of yours is just rags and tatters.
-
A report here that Cape Ann fishing industry is in tatters.
-
In her garden, my clothes were rags, my shoes in tatters, my hair long and filthy.
Fiction book (2000) -
Once-proud financial giants lay in ruins... ...their assets stripped... ...their policies in tatters.
-
The island lay dead ahead now, wreathed in clinging tatters of mist.
Fiction book (1999) -
The old shirt was reduced to tatters after years of wear and tear.
-
She used the tatters of an old blanket to make a patchwork quilt.
Synonyms
97
1.0
A small piece of old cloth used for cleaning
49
2.2
A thin piece torn from cloth, paper, or food
A small piece left at the very end of cloth or ribbon
How Torn
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tatter is easy to picture: think of a small 'rag' or 'tear' of cloth hanging loose. It comes from old words for torn cloth, so a tatter is a little torn piece you might use to patch something.