tit
noun
- heraldic animal
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /tɪt/
noun
Etymology: Probably of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; found earliest in titling and titmouse; compare Faroese títlingur, dialectal Norwegian titling (“small stockfish”).
- A chickadee; a small passerine bird of the genus Parus or the family Paridae, common in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Any of various other small passerine birds.
- A small horse; a nag.
“[…] he was reſolved, for the time to come, to ride his tit with more ſobriety.”
“Bob trotted gently by the side of the carriage. “Not a bad looking tit,” said St. Leger, as they went along.”
- A young girl, later especially a minx, hussy.
“"What sort of a feringee is this?" said a lively little tit—"eh?"”
“But I don't mind; she's a pretty little tit, and Dick has taught her to call me uncle.”
- A morsel; a bit.
“Now if you can shew so neat a foot, ( shewing her shoe ) —Parlez moi de ça : —I suppose I was not noble enough for this squire; he must have a bit a blood, a tit of quality — but I shall be a countess soon, and a mighty good sort of countess I shall make.”
“Being drunk , he remembers not a tit of life before the drink came well home. It is not that he sees the past mistily; he does not see at all. He lives then only in as much of the present as the word of his master for the time being[…]”
verb
Etymology: Perhaps imitative of light tap. Compare earlier tip for tap (“blow for blow”), from tip + tap; compare also dialectal tint for tant.
- To strike lightly, tap, pat.
“Come tit me, come tat me, come throw a kiss at me—how is that?”
- To taunt, to reproach.
“they would vpbraid me therewith calling me idle Drone; Titting and flouting at me, that I should offer to sit downe at boord with cleane hand.”