tattooing1 (tatoing)

[Verbal n. of tattool, v.] The sounding of the tattoo; also, a trick of beating a tattoo with the fingers. The wandering night-winds seemed to bear The sounds of a far tattooing . Bret Harte , Second Review of the Grand Army. Some little blinking, twitching, or tattooing trick which quickens as thoughts and words come faster. Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, V. 162. tattooing2 (ta-tö'ing), n. [Formerly also tat towing ; verbal n. of tattoo2 , v.] 1. The art or practice of marking the body as described under tattoo2 , v . They [the Tahitians] have a custom which they call Tattowing. They prick the skin so as just not to fetch blood. Cook , First Voyage, I. xvii. 2. The pattern, or combination of patterns, so produced. The deep lines of blue tattooing over nose and cheeks appear in curious contrast. The Century , XXVII. 919. Tattooing of the cornea, a surgical operation practised in cases of leucoma, consisting in pricking the cornea with needles and rubbing in sepia or lampblack. tattooing-needle (ta-tö'ing-nē"dl), n. A pointed instrument for introducing a pigment beneath the skin, as in tattooing, and certain operations in surgery.