Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who tattles.
  • noun Either of two shorebirds of the genus Tringa found in Asia, Australia, and western North America, especially T. incana, noted for its loud cry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who tattles; an idle talker; a prattler; a telltale.
  • noun In ornithology, a bird of the family Scolopacidæ and genus Totanus in a broad sense; one of the Totaneæ; a horseman or gambet: so called from the vociferous cries of most of these birds.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who tattles; an idle talker; one who tells tales.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of large, long-legged sandpipers belonging to the genus Totanus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who tattles (notifies authorities of illicit behavior) or is inclined to do so; a tattletale.
  • noun Either of two similar bird species in the shorebird genus Heteroscelus (Tringa in some taxonomies).
  • noun A device fitted to a vehicle to measure mileage etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of several long-legged shorebirds having a loud whistling cry
  • noun someone who gossips indiscreetly

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

tattle +‎ -er

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Examples

  • On shipboard he would be a sneak, a whiner, a tattler.

    Chapter 3 2010

  • Eastern Willet, Tringa s. semipalmata synonym; Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, formerly; Symphemia semipalmata, protonym; Scolopax semipalmata, also known as the semipalmated tattler or simply as the willet, photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, USA.

    Mystery bird: eastern willet, Tringa s. semipalmata 2011

  • Don't be such a tattler, Chloe, or you'll have to stay in at recess.

    Obama: U.S., Russia 'quite close' to forging new START treaty 2009

  • Pressure the school to gradually change its culture, so that showing concern is labeled as being heroic, rather than being a tattler.

    Childhood Unbound Ron Taffel 2009

  • And now I get to go back to work tomorrow faced with the dilemma of tattlin on the tattler to my own boss or playing dumb about it.

    Stuff I Don’t Like « Hilarity Ensues 2009

  • Pressure the school to gradually change its culture, so that showing concern is labeled as being heroic, rather than being a tattler.

    Childhood Unbound Ron Taffel 2009

  • He is not a whit less a tattler and a scandal monger than the old Roman tonsor or Figaro, his confrère in Southern Europe.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Love your neighbor signifies assist your neighbor, but not — enjoy his conversation with pleasure, if he be tiresome; confide to him your secrets, if he be a tattler; or lend him your money, if he be a spendthrift.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • It was she — the foolish tattler — who had set the report abroad regarding the poor Indian woman.

    The Virginians 2006

  • I like the quote from the intelligence tittle-tattler: In this business nothing is unlikely.

    Rock steady Alistair Myles 2006

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