Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. inferior, cheap, badly-made, shabby.

1932		T. Croft Cloven Hoof 65: ‘Tatty’: shabby.
1940		N. Mitford Pigeon Pie 117: There was fortunately nothing much to damage, except the ‘King’s’ tatty striped wall-papers.
1954		K. Williams Diaries 22 Dec. 106: Went to see Hancock [...] at the Adelphi. He was v. good but the rest was rather tatty.
1968		P. Barnes Ruling Class I xiii: Hildegarde! This is a bit tatty. No reception, no guests.
1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 22: Sitting in that music hall, enchanted by a tatty backcloth of a ‘modernistic’ cityscape.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 3: [T]he tatty Georgian columns.
1981		A. Weller Day of the Dog 94: Floyd’s deft hands caress the tatty wheel of the car that he owns for the night.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 189: His hair was wet. He was wearing his tatty robe.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 20 Feb. 34: A tatty gaff.
2018		G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] Davie [...] parked his tatty pink Hyundai.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 479: I stared at her tatty cracked leatherette cart, it summoned up their station in life.

2. unkempt, untidy, dishevelled.

1933		N. Coward Design for Living in Play Parade (1962) 409: Going round in a troupe, with all those tatty old girlss, must have been very, very bad for you .
1947		K. Williams Diaries 24 Mar. 11: Went to supper at an awfully tatty restaurant — turned out to be a brothel.
1957		J. Braine Room at the Top (1959) 106: Tatty as running greasepaint.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 12: Ben thumbed through his tatty engagement book.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 27: Bit tatty, I’m afraid.
1985		Beano Comic Library No. 79 36: Who wants to see a tatty old coal mine?
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 192: Who’d be pleased to see me, a little tatty round the edges, at eleven-thirty on a Thursday morning?
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 21: The top of his tatty head so vulnerable n soft.