rare. Pl. -ati. Also fem. tarantata, pl. -ate. [It. tarantato ‘bitten with a tarantula’ (Florio), affected with tarantism, f. Taranto name of the town: see -ISM.] One who has been bitten by a tarantula; one suffering from tarantism.
1685. Boyle, Effects of Mot., vi. 76. Narratives of the effects of Music upon the Tarantati.
1717. Berkeley, Tour Italy, Wks. 1871, IV. 544. The tarantato that we saw dancing in a circle paced round the room. Ibid., 545. None danced but the tarantata. Her father certainly [was] persuaded that she had her disorder from the tarantula.
