tatty

plural tatties

1. GeordieNorthern EnglandScotlandA potato.

   I'm buying fucking tatties.

   2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 245

   Synonyms: spud, tater

comparative tattier · superlative tattiest

1. Tattered; dilapidated, distressed, worn-out, torn.

   The tramp wore a tatty old overcoat.

   3 more examples

   I wish you would have smiled in the bakery Or sat on a tatty settee At a mutual friend's gathering

   2007, Arctic Monkeys, “The Bakery”, in Fluorescent Adolescent

   I have arrived to catch the 0830 TfW service to Crewe, worked by a tatty and unrefurbished 175114. As if ashamed of its appearance, it slinks into Platform 2 (instead of Platform 1, where it was expected). No announcement had been made, and we leave without any fanfare.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67

   Hubbard says he could easily take on more books than he would be able to sell, and some “tatty paperbacks” have such a low value that they end up getting recycled.

   2025 July 22, Lucy Knight, “‘Look how well-read I am!’ How ‘books by the metre’ add the final touch to your home – or your image”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: ratty

plural tatties

1. IndiaA woven mat or screen hung at a door or window and kept wet to moisten and cool the air as it enters.

   […] tatties are placed in front of the verandahs to keep out the rains during the monsoon; […]

   1855, Pharoah and Co, A Gazetteer of Southern India, page 553

plural tatties

1. A kind of reggae dance move.

plural tatties

1. alternativeuncommonAlternative form of tat (“tattoo”).