tartans en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈtɑɹt(ə)nz/ (Scotland)
- [-ɾn̩z] (General-American)
- /ˈtɑːt(ə)nz/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈtɑɹtn̩z/ (General-American)
- /ˈtæɹ-/ (Scotland)
Etymology
From tartan + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and plural forms of nouns; and third-person singular simple present indicative forms of regular verbs).
Meanings
-
(form-of, plural) plural of tartan
form of tartan
-
(plural, plural-only) Clothes made from tartan fabric; specifically, full Highland dress.
[T]hou shalt see a darksome man, / Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's clan, / With tartans broad and shadowy plume, / And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, […]
1810, Walter Scott, “Canto IV. The Prophecy.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XXVII, page 181:[A] chief in Highland pride; / His shoulders bear the hunter's bow, / The mountain dirk adorns his side, / Far on the wind his tartans flow […]
1798 (date written; published 1800), “Glenfinlas, or Lord Ronald’s Coronach”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: […], volume II, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] James Ballantyne, for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and sold by Manners and Miller, and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC, 3rd part (Imitations of the Ancient Ballad), page 384: