tattoo [M17th] The military tattoo sounded by a drum or bugle to recall soldiers to their quarters in the evening was originally written tap-too. It comes from Dutch doe den tap toe, which meant literally ‘close the tap’. The *tap was on a cask, closing it signalled the time for drinking was over and soldiers should go home. Tattoos on the skin are a different word, which came into English in the 18th century from the Polynesian languages of the Pacific Islands—Captain Cook’s journals are the first to record the word.