Mitty

[mit-ee]

noun

Walter Mitty.

Related formsMit·ty·esque, Mit·ty·ish, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mitty

Contemporary Examples of mitty

Then let Mitty, with his usual golden touch, note that the owners have their points, too!
Okay, It's Really Time to Settle the NFL Strike
Michael Tomasky
September 25, 2012

Historical Examples of mitty

Mitty was just the right sort of a Mitty for a little frontier girl.
Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends
Fanny Fern
We must do something, girls, and look 'how it do rain,' as Mitty would say.
The Four Corners Abroad
Amy Ella Blanchard
"She certainly is a sight," remarked Mary Lee, watching Mitty's exit.
The Four Corners
Amy Ella Blanchard
Don't say done forgot; that sounds like Mitty and Unc' Landy.
The Four Corners
Amy Ella Blanchard
"I has what I has," returned Mitty, breaking some splinters of wood across her knee.
The Four Corners
Amy Ella Blanchard

British Dictionary definitions for mitty

Mitty

noun

Walter Mitty

a fictional character given to grand and elaborate fantasies; daydreamer
(as modifier)a Walter Mitty character; a Mitty act

Derived FormsMittyesque or Mitty-like, adjective

Word Origin for Mitty

C20: from a short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939), by James Thurber

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mitty

Mitty

"adventurous daydreamer," 1950, from title character in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," short story by U.S. author James Thurber (1894-1961) first published in the "New Yorker" March 18, 1939.