tater

See also: tatér, tâter, and Täter

English

Alternative forms

• tader

Etymology

Representing an aphetic pronunciation of potato. Compare patater (“potato”), 'mater (“tomato”), and 'naner (“banana”).

Pronunciation

• (British) IPA^(key): /ˈteɪtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: tāʹtər, IPA^(key): /ˈteɪtɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

tater (plural taters)

1. (British, US, informal) A potato.

   We ate them taters up real good.

   • 1884, Hiram Bigelow, Family Companion, letter, quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, page 198:

     I went into the dining-room, and sot down afore a plate that had my name writ on a card onto it; and I did walk into the beef and 'taters and things about east.

   • 2022 June 12, Lauren Daley, “How to eat through Blackstone Valley in a weekend”, in Boston Globe:

     For sandwiches, you might sink your teeth into a Cape Cod reuben with crispy cod, Swiss and coleslaw with tater tots or sweet potato fries, fried chicken and waffle sandwich with maple aioli, or bacon jam burger — maple bourbon bacon jam, gorgonzola, fried egg, arugula, tomato.

   • 2023 December 20, Eric Kim, “A Creamy, Melty Potato Casserole That’s Outrageously Easy to Make”, in The New York Times Magazine‎:

     While Linder prefers his taters cut skinny, as they are in restaurant iterations of the dish, his co-author, the television chef Johanna Westman, says she prefers them thick, as in her Grandma Alva’s recipe.

2. (US, baseball, slang) A home run.
   • 2013 July 29, Richard Goldstein, “George Scott, Slugger Who Boomed ‘Taters’ in Fenway, Dies at 69”, in The New York Times‎:

     Playing 14 seasons in the major leagues, the right-handed-batting Scott was a three-time All-Star and hit 271 home runs, or taters, as he called them.

Derived terms

• later, tater
• so help me tater, so help my tater
• taters
• tater tot

See also

• patater

Anagrams

• Ratte, Treat, atter, ratte, teart, tetra, tetra-, treat

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

tater m (definite singular tateren, indefinite plural tatere, definite plural taterne)

1. (sometimes offensive) a Scandoromani person, a Traveller Norwegian (a kind of Norwegian Gypsies)

Synonyms

• fant (more offensive)
• tavring
• reisende (non-offensive)

References

• “tater” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “tater” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Probably related to the etnonym of Tatars or Tartary. Compare Swedish tattare.

Noun

tater m (definite singular tateren, indefinite plural taterar, definite plural taterane)

1. (sometimes offensive) a Scandoromani person, a Traveller Norwegian (a kind of Norwegian Gypsies)

Synonyms

• fant (more offensive)
• tavring
• reisande (non-offensive)

References

• “tater” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “tater”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016