Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several small insectivorous songbirds of the family Paridae of woodland areas, especially members of the genus Baeolophus, such as the tufted titmouse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A tit; a tomtit; any bird of the family Paridæ, and especially of the subfamily Parinæ. (See the technical names, and cuts under
chickadee and Parus.)
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small insectivorous singing birds belonging to Parus and allied genera; -- called also
tit , andtomtit .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any small
passerine bird of the familyParidae , which are found in thewoods of the northern hemisphere and ofAfrica .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small insectivorous birds
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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The titmouse is a fun little visitor to my yard as well.
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If I count that as a vote against titmouse, which is what my gut instructs me to do, then we have a final tally in order of funniness of:
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Whatever would they do with the word about a bird called a titmouse?
Weekend roundup Michael Allen 2005
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About two dozen or more of a little bird called the titmouse had all perched on one tree, where they were pecking, and fighting, and love-making, and noise-making, all at the same time.
Harry's Ladder to Learning Anonymous
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One species alone spends its whole time in the woods and fields, never retreating for succour in the severest seasons to houses and neighbourhoods; and that is the delicate long-tailed titmouse, which is almost as minute as the golden-crowned wren; but the blue titmouse or nun (_Parus caeruleus_), the cole-mouse
The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 1 Gilbert White 1756
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-- as quick as a wink he was changed into a titmouse, which is the least of all the birds in that land.
The Wonder Clock 1887
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Some of her colleagues in the House have not been too polite-she has been called a "titmouse" and told "Just quiet down, baby."
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The "titmouse" walnut produces very delicate fruit, rich in oil, and with thin shells, so that the little creatures can pierce the husks and shells while the fruit is still on the bough.
Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie
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As one does not speak of the "egg-box" of the titmouse, meaning "the nest of the titmouse," why should I invoke the box in speaking of the Mantis?
Social Life in the Insect World Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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"There is no more faithful mother in the forest than the blue titmouse, which is a cousin to the chickadee," continued the policeman, "and this spring Tom Titmouse and his wife Nancy set up housekeeping in a little hollow in an elm-tree about half a mile north of this spot.
Policeman Bluejay 1887
tusseymountain commented on the word titmouse
The FCC wants to change it to chestmouse. One species is known as tufted titmouse. I like that name but there's also thrummy titmouse which has its own appeal.
June 8, 2009
bilby commented on the word titmouse
What's the FCC?
June 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word titmouse
Federal Censorship Commitee.
chestmouse, indeed!
June 8, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word titmouse
Federal Communications Commission.
June 8, 2009
dontcry commented on the word titmouse
Hmm... Do I really want to go there?
June 8, 2009
reesetee commented on the word titmouse
Where did you hear that news, Tussey? I've only ever seen that on a blog, and it was tongue-in-cheek.
June 9, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word titmouse
There's also some question as to why the FCC would be involved in renaming a bird...
June 9, 2009
rolig commented on the word titmouse
Sounds to me like an urban legend in the making.
June 9, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word titmouse
Definitely tongue-in-cheek.
June 11, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word titmouse
If you say titmouse three times, will one appear? You know, like Beetlejuice. Cuz that would be cool.
June 11, 2009
reesetee commented on the word titmouse
It hasn't worked for me yet.
TM: Thanks. Clearly we took you too seriously. :-)
June 11, 2009
bilby commented on the word titmouse
Etymology online has the following:
small, active bird, early 14c., titmose, from tit (n.2), expressing something small, + Old English mase "titmouse," from Proto-Germanic *maison (source also of Dutch mees, German meise), from adj. *maisa- "little, tiny." Spelling influenced 16c. by unrelated mouse, "when mose had long been obsolete as an independent word" OED. The proper plural is titmouses.
March 20, 2018
bilby commented on the word titmouse
Hence the origin of this word is small small.
March 20, 2018
bilby commented on the word titmouse
It's a small, small world :-)
March 20, 2018