Marks on the skin from a beating (6)

I believe the answer is:

tattoo

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'a beating' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

(Other definitions for tattoo that I've seen before include "one has to beat" , "Military evening signal" , "drawing on arms, perhaps" , "Military pageant" , "image on one's skin" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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