titmouse
[tit-mous]
- 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.
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Compare tufted titmouse.
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
Emerson talks of his titmouse as Raphael talks of his emmet.
Because you are a Hercules, and I a titmouse, don't think I am overawed by your knitted eyebrows.
Debts of HonorMaurus Jkai
So Wainamoinen cut down the trees as the titmouse had said, only he leftp.
Finnish Legends for English ChildrenR. Eivind
The titmouse got into it, and did not leave the pumpkin until she had picked all the seeds.
Rumanian Bird and Beast StoriesAnonymous
Who do you think, reader, walked on Mr. Titmouse's right-hand side?
Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 3.Samuel Warren
titmouse
- (usually plural) any small active songbird of the family Paridae, esp those of the genus ParusSee tit 1
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Word Origin
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
n.
"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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper