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A.Word.A.Day--tattersall

Pronunciation RealAudio

tattersall also Tattersall (TAT-uhr-sawl, -suhl) noun

1. A pattern of squares formed by dark lines on a light background.

2. A cloth with this pattern.

adjective

Having a tattersall pattern.

[After Tattersall's, a horse market in London, where such patterns were common on horse blankets. The market was named after Richard Tattersall, an auctioneer (1724-1795).]

"Too much? Perhaps. There were moments when the tweed and tattersall layers, puffed with motley fur and mixed with crepe, vintage-print skirts, seemed stuffy and overdreamed."
Cathy Horyn; Four Women Swagger In Milan; The New York Times; Mar 5, 2003.

"I was futzing with the hinges on the front-yard gate on a Saturday afternoon, my tattersall shirtsleeves rolled up and mind off in Oklahoma, when I noticed Fido in the California shade, snoozing ..."
Ron Hansen; My Kid's Dog; Harper's Magazine (New York); Mar 2003.

This week's theme: words of horse-related origins.

X-Bonus

Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views, and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury, and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except myself, to injure me. -Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France 1769-1821)

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