Taut v.

Sc. Also tawt, tat. [Origin obscure: cf. TATTY a.; also TATTER sb.¹] a. trans. To tangle or mat together (hair or wool). b. intr. To become tangled or matted, as hair or wool. Hence Tauted (tautit) ppl. a., tangled, matted; having the hair tangled.

1782.  Burns, Poor Mailic’s Elegy, vi. She was nae get o’ moorland tips, Wi’ tawted ket, an hairy hips. Ibid. (1786), Twa Dogs, 20. Nae tawted tyke, tho’ e’er sae duddie.

1853.  J. Crawford, in Whistle-Binkie (1890), II. 224. While frae the bairnie’s tautit hair The frozen crystals hung.

1882.  Jamieson, Supp., s.v. Tat, Dinna taut your hair sa.

1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, xx. God’s truth, it’s the tautit laddie!