titmouse

[tit-mous]

noun, plural tit·mice

[tit-mahys] /ˈtɪtˌmaɪs/.

any of numerous, widely distributed, small songbirds of the family Paridae, especially of the genus Parus, having soft, thick plumage and a short, stout, conical bill.

Origin of titmouse

1275–1325; Middle English tit(e)mose (see tit¹); mose, Old English māse titmouse; cognate with German Meise titmouse, Old Norse meis- in meisingr kind of bird; modern mouse by folk etymology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for titmouse

Historical Examples of titmouse

Emerson talks of his titmouse as Raphael talks of his emmet.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. X (of X) - America - II, Index
Various
Because you are a Hercules, and I a titmouse, don't think I am overawed by your knitted eyebrows.
Debts of Honor
Maurus Jkai
So Wainamoinen cut down the trees as the titmouse had said, only he leftp.
Finnish Legends for English Children
R. Eivind
The titmouse got into it, and did not leave the pumpkin until she had picked all the seeds.
Rumanian Bird and Beast Stories
Anonymous
Who do you think, reader, walked on Mr. Titmouse's right-hand side?
Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 3.
Samuel Warren

British Dictionary definitions for titmouse

titmouse

noun plural -mice

(usually plural) any small active songbird of the family Paridae, esp those of the genus ParusSee tit 1

Word Origin for titmouse

C14 titemous, from tite (see tit 1) + mouse

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 titmouse

"small, active bird," early 14c., titmose, from tit (n.2), expressing something small, + Old English mase "titmouse," from Proto-Germanic *maison (cf. Dutch mees, German meise), from adj. *maisa- "little, tiny." Spelling influenced 16c. by unrelated mouse.