tit

tit¹

/tit/, n.

1. a titmouse.

2. any of various other small birds.

3. Archaic. a girl or young woman; hussy.

4. Archaic. a small or poor horse; nag.

[1540-50; repr. ME tite- (in titemose TITMOUSE); c. Norw tite titmouse; akin to ON tittr tack, pin. See TIT²]

tit²

/tit/, n.

1. a teat.

2. Slang (vulgar). a breast.

[bef. 1100; ME titte, OE titt; c. MLG, MD titte, G Zitze, Norw titta; akin to TIT¹]

tit³

/tit/, n.

See tit for tat.

[perh. var. of TIP⁴]

* * *

Any of several woodland and garden songbird species in the genus Parus (family Paridae) having a rather stout, pointed bill.

The great tit (P. major), found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia nearly to Java, is about 6 in. (14 cm) long. It has a white face, a black head, and a black center line on its underparts, which are yellow or buffy. The best-known North American species of crested tit is the tufted titmouse (P. bicolor), a 7-in. (17-cm) bluish gray bird with pinkish brown flanks. See also chickadee.

Tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor).

Dan Sudia-The National Audubon Society Collection

* * *

▪ bird

also called  Titmouse,  plural  Titmice,  

      any of a number of small active birds of the songbird family Paridae (order Passeriformes). The name tit is used primarily in the Old World; in the New World a parid is called titmouse or chickadee. The term tit is also used in combinations for birds of other families that resemble parids in behaviour and appearance—e.g., tit-babbler, tit-tyrant, wrentit.

      Parid tits are woodland and garden birds. Perhaps the best-known species is the great tit (Parus major), found in Europe, northwestern Africa, and Asia nearly to Java. It is 14 cm (5.5 inches) long, and it has a white-faced black head and a black centre line on its underparts, which are yellow in Western races and whitish or buffy in the Orient.

      In North America “titmouse” applies only to four species that are crested. The best known of these is the tufted titmouse (P. bicolor), a 17-centimetre bluish gray bird with pinkish brown flanks. Another familiar North American parid is the black-capped chickadee (P. atricapillus; see chickadee).

* * *