tit
1 Americannoun
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a titmouse.
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any of various other small birds.
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Archaic. a girl or young woman; hussy.
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Archaic. a small or poor horse; nag.
noun
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a teat.
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Slang: Vulgar. a breast.
noun
abbreviation
abbreviation
noun
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slang a female breast
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a teat or nipple
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derogatory a girl or young woman
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slang a despicable or unpleasant person: often used as a term of address
noun
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any of numerous small active Old World songbirds of the family Paridae (titmice), esp those of the genus Parus (bluetit, great tit, etc). They have a short bill and feed on insects and seeds
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any of various similar small birds
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archaic a worthless or worn-out horse; nag
abbreviation
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of tit1
First recorded in 1540–50; short for titmouse ( def. ); akin to Old Norse titlingr “sparrow,” Norwegian tite “titmouse”; tit 2
Origin of tit2
First recorded before 1100; Middle English, Old English tit(t) “teat, pap, breast”; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch titte, German Zitze, Norwegian titta; akin to tit 1; teat ( def. )
Origin of tit3
Perhaps variant of tip 4
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After the tit for tat of removing members from the opposite party from committees, McCarthy promised Reps.
From Washington Post
The remaining seven percent of videos featured Parids, the family of birds that includes tits, chickadees and titmice, sneaking up and stealing hair from raccoons, cats, dogs and in one video, a North American porcupine.
From New York Times
Firth, for example, has unpublished data documenting social inheritance in songbirds called great tits.
From Science Magazine
“If Iran is engaged in this kind of tit for tat with Israel, while also putting pressure on American presence in the region, it makes restoring the deal much more difficult.”
From New York Times
Some engaged in old-fashioned tit for tat: Sure, Trump riled up the mob, but didn’t some Democrats do the same thing when they made excuses for violence on the fringes of Black Lives Matter protests?
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.