tats, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tats n.

also tatts

[ety. unknown; ? the rattle of dice as they hit the table]

1. dice, esp. crooked dice.

1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia I i: Pox o’ th tatts for me!
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Tatts, c. false Dice.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Tats, false dice.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 170: Tatts — dice.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 33: Tatt, queer – bad dice.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Tats - Dice. Crooked Tats - Unfair Dice.
1887		W.E. Henley ‘Villon’s Straight Tip’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 176: Bonnet, or tout, or mump and gag; / Rattle the tats, or mark the spot.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 84: Tats, false dice.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Jul. 10/4: The only one who kept his head was a man who simply cleared the table of the cards and ‘tats,’ thus removing the incriminating evidence.
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 8 Mar. 4/8: The push who never keep a loaded tat / Or cast a piggish eye upon a girlie.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 258: The tat is a crooked die with fives on four sides and sixes on two sides. It has a mate which is an exact replica in size and weight, but which is numbered in the usual manner.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 204: Tatts Dice.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 147: tats were loaded dice.

2. (Aus./N.Z.) teeth [refers to the ivory in dice and teeth].

1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Nov. 8/7: ‘The bloke that’ll bite your ear’ll want a noo set of ‘tats’ next day’.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 19 Mar. 4/7: She had placed her ‘tats’ in a tumbler, hung her locally-prepared curls on a chair back, and reposed her mosquito-netted anatomy on top of the quilt.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 49: tats — Teeth.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: tats. Teeth.
1934		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 17 Mar. 2/4: You can bet your false tats that Ned will nod the nut plenty.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1946		Sun (Sydney) 13 Oct. 15/1: Those coots always talk like that, even with their tats in.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 14: She had a north and south full of broken tatts and a loaf of bread like a robber’s dog.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 133: A fair-sized gap along the left side of his upper tats.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 137: [T]he shocking state of Willie’s tatts made him embarrassed to open his mouth in public.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) a set of false teeth [refers to the ivory in dice and teeth].

1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Oct. 4/8: The tart over the way with a mouthful of false tats, and baddies at that.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 254: Hey, you forgot yer tats! Don’t you want yer teeth?
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xli 4/2: tatts: False teeth.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 47: Tatts False teeth.

In compounds

tat-box (n.) (also tatt-box)

a dice-box.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5: His lungs had never been sound since the sousing those merry souls at the Three Drumsticks gave him when the found the secret of his success with the tat box.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 84: Tat Box, a dice box.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 207: Tatbox Tommy (so-called from his adroitness with the dice).

tat-man (n.) (also tatsman, tatt-man)

a professional dice cheat.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: tatman one who gets his living by playing or cheating at dice.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: tatt man fellows who get their living by attending at the gaming-houses, and playing the dice.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Tat’s Man One who lives by gambling with dice.
1825		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 240: ‘A nibble,’ said Transit, ‘from an ivory turner’ [note] A tats man, a proficient with the bones.
1832		Satirist (London) 29 July 243/2: [A] prisoner who went by the nickname of Lumpy and who was an old Tatsman.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

tat-monger (n.) (also tattmonger) [-monger sfx]

a professional dice-cheat.

1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia I i: He was but a sharper, a tatmonger.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: tat-monger c. a Sharper, or Cheat, using fase [sic] Dice.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: tat-monger a Sharper, or Cheat, using false Dice. The Thirty-sixth Order of Villains.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Tatmonger, One that uses false dice.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

tat-shop (n.) [shop n.¹ (3)]

(UK Und.) a gambling den.

1823

Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

In phrases

ring the tatts (v.)

(UK Und.) to substitute crooked dice for good ones.

1788

‘Rolling Blossom’ in Festival of Anacreon in Wardroper Lovers, Rakers and Rogues (1995) 179: [He] Could palm an ace, or ring the tatts / Or sing a rolling song, sir.

In exclamations

tats and all!

nonsense! rubbish! humbug!

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.