tattooed

1. 1
   adjective

   Marked with one or more tattoos.

   The bass player was heavily tattooed from his neck to his wrists.

   Tattooed skin needs extra sun protection to keep the colors from fading.

   Note

   The adjective is gradable: one arm can be more tattooed than another, and the most tattooed person in a room shows the least bare skin. Its intensifiers measure coverage rather than force, so people are heavily or copiously tattooed, as in Christina Lynch's Pony Confidential (2024): "a copiously tattooed young man in a blue jumpsuit."

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of tattoo.

   The artist tattooed a koi fish across his client's back over three sessions.

   Rain tattooed the tin roof all night long.

   Note

   The form is regular, and it serves every verb meaning of tattoo, not just the inked one: a player who hits the ball hard has tattooed it, and restless fingers have tattooed a tabletop by drumming on it. After be it can blur into the adjective for inked skin: he was tattooed last week reports an act, while he was tattooed all over describes a state.

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