▪ I. tagger1
(ˈtægə(r))
[f. tag v.1 or n.1 + -er1.]
1. One who tags: see the verb.
| 1648 Pair of Spectacles for City 11 We bound him to a Tagger of Points. 1785 R. Graves Eugenius I. ii. 6 Our orators are mere praters—and our poets taggers of rhime. 1883 Sat. Rev. 12 May 592/1 The Scotch seem to have entertained a mistaken theory that the taggers of rhymes to the prose version of the Psalms were inspired. |
† 2. A tag, a projecting part. Obs. ? misuse.
| a 1687 Cotton Burlesque Gt. Frost Poems (1689) 98 Comparing Hedg-hogs, or Porcupine's small Taggers, To their more dang'rous Swords and Daggers. |
3. A device for tagging a sheep: see tag v.1 6.
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
4. pl. Very thin sheet-iron, usually coated with tin. (Also taggar.) Now also sing., chiefly in attrib. use. [Probably so called from being used to make tags of laces.]
| 1834 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Comm. II. 1160 Taggars 14 by 10 inches, {pstlg}2 5s. 1853 Lardner's Cab. Cycl., Manuf. Metals III. 43 Tinned Taggers, Black Taggers. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Taggers, a very thin kind of tin-plates used for coffin-plate inscriptions and tops of umbrellas. 1879 P. W. Flower Hist. Tin Trade xiii. (1880) 156 A sheet of taggers, as thin as paper itself. 1894 U.S. Tariff, Schedule Rates §121 Sheets or plates of iron or steel, or taggers iron or steel, coated with tin or lead..and commercially known as tin plates, terne plates, and taggers tin. 1938 Shelf Appeal July 26/1 The tagger-top in its present form, with a cutter in the lid. 1959 Gloss. Packaging Terms (B.S.I.) 55 Lever ring and tagger, a lever type closure comprising a diaphragm of tagger tinplate or aluminium secured (together with the ring) to the body... Cutter lid, an outer lid containing a steel cutter with which the thin tagger tinplate top of the body is pierced and cut away. |
Add: [1.] b. One who writes graffiti tags. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1986 Chicago Tribune 27 Feb. ii. 4/4 Not only do gang members spray-paint graffiti but also ‘taggers’—street artists—spray-paint huge murals on buildings and viaducts. 1988 Daily Tel. 16 Feb. 17/1 (heading) LRT takes on Tube ‘taggers’. 1989 N.Y. Times 6 Nov. a12/2 Apart from the taggers, there are hundreds of graffiti artists and their ‘crews’ in the city, most of whom know the other painters and their territories. |
▪ II. tagger2
(ˈtægə(r))
[f. tag n.2 or v.2 + -er1.]
The pursuer in the game of tag.
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. 1969 I. & P. Opie Children's Games i. 23 One person is the tagger and has to count to thirty. |