Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A simple song.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To sing a ditty; warble a tune.
- To sing.
- noun A song, or poem intended to be sung, usually short and simple in form, and set to a simple melody; any short simple song.
- noun The words of a song, as opposed to the tune or music.
- noun A refrain; a saying often repeated.
- noun Clamor; cry; noise.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To sing; to warble a little tune.
- noun A saying or utterance; especially, one that is short and frequently repeated; a theme.
- noun A song; a lay; a little poem intended to be sung.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A short
verse ortune . - verb To
sing ; towarble a littletune .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a short simple song (or the words of a poem intended to be sung)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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One of my favorites is this ditty from a flight attendant:
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Apparently, a little ditty from the second act called "Be Kind to Your Parents" was a break-out popular hit in 1954.
Fanny deliasherman 2010
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One of my favorites is this ditty from a flight attendant:
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And who can forget this little ditty from the Weinstein campaign, which I would like to recommend be used in interrogation rooms across the country.
Keli Goff: Is 2010 Officially the Worst Year for Political Ads? Keli Goff 2010
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Zimmer: And then the other thing was I didn't want to do another summer Hollywood blockbuster, so I thought to be very provocative in the music, which I think that little Joker ditty is certainly not something you expect in — it's not the first thing that you'd think of when you think Hollywood blockbuster.
Interview: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard on The Dark Knight's Score « FirstShowing.net 2008
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This little ditty is for Bush and (hopefully very soon) Cheney: When a Republican is caught red-handed breaking the law and is nabbed by the feet he†™ ll grope at anything, at any lie, as he is dragged up the temple steps to face justice.
Think Progress » Congress Explicitly Said War Resolution Did Not Expand Executive Power 2005
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Catharine O'Hara) and a bouncy ditty from the animated Triplets of
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Such as haue not premonition hereof, and consideration of the causes alledged, would peraduenture reproue and disgrace euery _Romance_, or short historicall ditty for that they be not written in long meeters or verses _Alexandrins_, according to the nature & stile of large histories, wherin they should do wrong for they be sundry formes of poems and not all one.
The Arte of English Poesie George Puttenham
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While a ditty is the tribute to the joy that gives it birth,
The Minstrel A Collection of Poems Lennox Amott
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A slender little treble was singing it over and over again in childish sort, with so little appreciation of the meaning of the words that the oddity of the ditty was the first thing to attract my attention to it.
The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) Marion Harland 1876
yarb commented on the word ditty
One day after dinner I went into his room, just as he was tuning his guitar. To hear him more at my ease, I sat down on the only stool; while he, reclining on his bed, played a pathetic air, and sang to it a ditty, expressing the despair of a lover and the cruelty of his mistress.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 9 ch. 5
October 7, 2008
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word ditty
Ditty is also used to describe frivilous people. I think.
July 18, 2009
thesaurosie commented on the word ditty
PossibleUnderscore, are you sure you're not thinking of 'ditzy'? I apologise if I'm wrong and being condescending.
July 18, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word ditty
No no, it's ok. My mistake, you're right. Thanks.
July 18, 2009