title piecen.
/ˈtʌɪtl piːs/, U.S. /ˈtaɪdəl ˌpis/ 1. An illustration or other design on the title page of a book; a decorative design containing the title of a printed sheet, such as a map or piece of sheet music. Now historical.
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1756 Gazetteer & London Daily Advertiser 22 Jan. 1/2 (advt.) A Beautiful Title Piece representing Asculapius and Flora..designed by Mr. Wale, and Engraved by Mr. Grignion.
1863 Hist. Mag. Sept. 287/1 The title piece..really a beautiful piece of engraving, contains the following words.
1991 M. L. Myers French Archit. & Ornamental Drawings 17th Cent. 100/1 These drawings were meant to be engraved,..a design for a title piece.
2. A story, essay, poem, etc., giving its name to the collection of which it is part; the title song from a musical or the title track from an album.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > [noun] > set of pieces > one of a set
title piece1891
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > essay > [noun] > title-essay
title essay1867
title piece1891
1891 Athenæum 8 Aug. 189/3 ‘Charybdis’, the title-piece..seems as if it might have come to its pre-eminence merely by a chance shuffling of the leaves.
1927 New Republic 12 Oct. 211/1 He has possibly scored some moderate hits: in ‘Manhattan Mary’, ‘Broadway’, ‘The Five Step’.., a curiously constructed sob-song called ‘Memories’, and the title-piece.
1936 in A. Huxley Olive Tree (dust-jacket) This is one of the best collections of essays that Mr. Huxley has ever made. The title-piece is a completely new departure in technique.
1980 Poetry Jan. 225 The poem then may have been intended as the title piece of such a collection.
2002 New Yorker 2 Dec. 116/2 The title piece, an elegy for strings, echoes the feverish intimacy of Benjamin Britten.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1756