tazz
nounEtymology Possibly related to tazzle.
1
Northamptonshire, Dialectal A heap of tangles or knots, especially in hair.
- Derived terms
- tazzy
tazz
verbEtymology Unknown, though questionably related to North Yorkshire tazzed (“overmatched, defeated, beaten, unable to accomplish one's end”, adjective) recorded circa 1870. The proposed sense development would be someone who has been passed by another, faster competitor in race (who is tazzing) is therefore tazzed.
- It’s bad for him [the dog] if he’s kept tied up in that dismal place, and perhaps not properly fed. I say, how would it be if I tazzed down there and had a look at him?1955, Gladys Mitchell, Watson's Choice, London: Michael Joseph, published 1985, page 76:
- I was riding this whacking big motor bike […] and I was being chased by all the girls from the Younger Generation [etc.] […] And then all of a sudden, Mary Whitehouse came tazzing up and overtook the lot of them, and she was riding a horse […]1975, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, The Goodies' Book of Criminal Records, London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, →ISBN, page [13]:
4 more examples
- This was an enormous Ford Zephyr 6 capable of doing 100 m.p.h. as I discovered tazzing down the motorway[.]1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 78:
- The kooky pair were snapped at a ski resort in Khvalynsk, Russia by video director Alexander Kalinin from studio Dr Creative tazzing down the slopes in little more than bikinis.2016 February 23, Felicity Thistlethwaite, “Brave bikini-clad babes hit the slopes in SWIMWEAR shunning conventional clothing”, in Express.co.uk:
- Well, the autumn leaffall timetable has been running a fortnight and this is the first time I've had to get off for a ten- minute^([sic]) stop at Longbridge because the train tazzes through…2018 October 26, @Tristanharris76 [username], Twitter, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2022:
- Fireblade SP bikes and Civic Type R cars will be tazzing about the Island, letting marshals and medics get to where they need to be sharpish...2019 March 19, Al Dowds, “2019 Isle of Man Monster TT Races - official launch”, in Visordown: