tomtitn.
/ˌtɒmˈtɪt/, /ˈtɒmtɪt/, U.S. /ˌtɑmˈtɪt/, /ˈtɑmˌtɪt/, Australian English /tɔmˈtɪt/, New Zealand English /tɒmˈtɪt/ 1.
a. Chiefly English regional. Any of various titmice of the family Paridae; esp. the blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, the great tit, Parus major, and (U.S.) the black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus.Cf. Tom Titmouse n. at Tom n.1 Compounds 2b.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus ater (coal-tit)
coalmouseeOE
tomtit1648
coal-hood1684
mop1688
coal titmouse1766
coal tit1829
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus atricapillus
tomtit1648
chickadee1832
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus caeruleus (blue-tit)
pinnockc1275
meese1480
nun1585
tomtit1648
blue titmouse1673
puffer1773
blue cap1797
pinchem1809
blue bonnet1811
pick-cheesea1825
blue tit1831
billy-biter1843
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus major (great tit)
great titmouse1544
ox-eye1544
tomtit1648
black cap1802
oven's nesta1825
pick-cheesea1825
Tom-noup1832
saw-sharpener1885
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > miscellaneous types of
titmouse1611
yellowbird1625
tomtit1648
black cap1845
willow tit1907
1648 Earl of Westmorland Otia Sacra ii. 137 The Whitetail, and Tom Tit obey Their seasons, bill and tread, then lay.
1700 E. Ward London Spy II. v. 9 Her Weasel Face look'd as disproportion'd to her Commode, as a Tom-Tits Egg put into an Owles Nest.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 5. ¶7 The Singing Birds will be Personated by Tom-Tits.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 211 Tom Teet, Parus atricapillus.
1811 W. Combe Schoolmaster's Tour in Poet. Mag. Feb. 139 I must breathe my dogs a-bit, And try my gun at some tom-tit.
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xvii. 123 In vain do flocks of black-birds and robbins, and tom-tits rise!
1872 Harper's Mag. Nov. 810/2 Frogs, cray-fish, tomtits, ground-squirrels—all were dressed and went in [the stew] without question.
1909 Athenæum 20 Mar. 347/1 Magee characterized somebody's religion as insufficient for a tomtit.
1965 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 19 Great Tit... Tom Tit. Accrington.
1972 Guardian 23 Feb. 12/2 An octogenarian farm worker..pointed out that, just as one's largest toe is the ‘tom toe’, so it followed naturally that the largest tit was the tom-tit.
1999 R. Malster Mardler's Compan. 77/2 Tom tit, in Suffolk this is a blue tit, but in other parts of East Anglia the name refers to the great tit.
2012 Express (Nexis) 27 Jan. 13 Due to the mildness the tomtits are casting a speculative eye on the various residences pinned to the exterior walls.
b. Any of various small birds unrelated to the titmice, as a wren (family Troglodytidae), (U.S.) a nuthatch (family Sittidae), and (Australian) a thornbill (family Acanthizidae).
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the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > miscellaneous
night-raveneOE
cold-finch1676
crane1678
diver1694
solitary1708
wheat-bird1747
yellow-bill1775
Chinese thrush1781
whidah thrush1781
tomtit1789
solitaire1797
year-bird1798
softbill1830
swift-shrike1841
scissor bird1843
seed finch1862
sea-flyer1869
stalker1872
seven sisters1873
dicky bird1879
baboon bird1883
1789 'Norfolk Lady' MS Coll. Norfolk Words in Dictionaries (2016) 37 126 Tom titt, a little Brown Wren.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Tom-tit,..by us it is applied to the wren.., tom-tit seems to belong indiscriminately to both sexes.
1874 Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. 10 366 S[itta] Carolinensis... White-bellied Nuthatch; ‘Tom-tit’. Resident.
1883 A. J. Campbell Nests & Eggs Austral. Birds p. iv We found numerous nests of Tomtits or Yellow-tailed acanthizas.
1910 T. Wayne Birds S. Carolina I. 186 It was my delight to bog in the marshes..in search of the nest and eggs of the ‘Tom Tit’, as this wren was known.
1955 Oriole 20 i. 11 Brown-headed Nuthatch.—Tomtit.
1962 B. W. Leake Eastern Wheatbelt Wildlife 87 Yellow tailed thornbills or tom-tits have the cosiest nest made principally of grass and lined with feathers.
1986 L. Pederson LAGS Concordance in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (2012) V. 655/1 Tomtit—very small woodpecker.
c. A small songbird native to New Zealand, Petroica macrocephala (family Petroicidae), with black upperparts and a yellow or white belly.Formerly treated as several species.
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1860 S. Butler Forest Creek MS (1960) 44 The wren and the tomtit and the thrush all are represented quite as nearly or even more so than the robin save that the tomtit is black headed with a yellow breast.
1914 W. H. Guthrie-Smith Mutton Birds & Other Birds 203 Petro[i]ca macrocephala—Southern Tit—South Island Tom-tit.
1948 L. E. Richdale Wild Life on Island Outpost 113 The Snares Island Tomtit (Petroica dannefaerdi) is evenly distributed all over the island.
2014 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) (Nexis) 3 Nov. 3 The canopy..tends to encourage encounters of a close kind with birds like tomtits and bellbirds.
2. figurative. A diminutive person or thing.
a. Frequently depreciative. A little man or boy; an insignificant person. Now rare.
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the world > life > the body > bodily height > shortness > [noun] > person
dwarfeOE
congeonc1230
go-by-ground?a1300
smalla1300
shrimpc1386
griga1400
gruba1400
murche1440
nirvil1440
mitinga1450
witherling1528
wretchocka1529
elf1530
hop-o'-my-thumb1530
pygmy1533
little person1538
manikin1540
mankin1552
dandiprat1556
yrle1568
grundy1570
Jack Sprat1570
squall1570
manling1573
Tom Thumb1579
pinka1585
squib1586
screaling1594
giant-dwarf1598
twattle1598
agate1600
minimus1600
cock sparrow1602
dapperling1611
modicum1611
scrub1611
sesquipedalian1615
dwarflinga1618
wretchcock1641
homuncio1643
whip-handle1653
homuncule1656
whippersnapper1674
chitterling1675
sprite1684
carliea1689
urling1691
wirling1691
dwarf man1699
poppet1699
durgan1706
short-arse1706
tomtit1706
Lilliputian1726
wallydraigle1736
midge1757
minikin1761
squeeze-crab1785
minimum1796
niff-naff1808
titman1818
teetotum1822
squita1825
cradden1825
nyaff1825
weed1825
pinkeen1850
fingerling1864
Lilliput1867
thumbling1867
midget1869
inch1884
shorty1888
titch1888
skimpling1890
stub1890
scrap1898
pygmoid1922
lofty1933
peewee1935
smidgen1952
pint-size1954
pint-sized1973
munchkin1974
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer iv. 49 Kite. Right, he'll call you honest Tom—Smith. But how the Devil shou'd he know my Name? Kite. O, there are several sorts of Toms—Tom a Lincoln, Tom-tit, Tom Telltroth, Tom o' Bedlam, Tom Fool.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela (ed. 2) I. Introd. p. xxxii I have told you the History of this Tom-tit of a Prater.
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxxii. 312 Are you setting up to be a Pindar, you absurd little tom-tit?
1901 Direct Legislation Rec. June 23/1 They took particular pains to advertise themselves as a set of petty, spiteful, peevish, stunted, diminutive, starved, cross, soured, political tomtits.
1909 Daily News 19 July 11 A veritable little tomtit of a man in his jerky little ways and lively good humour.
1950 S. J. Perelman Swiss Family Perelman (1987) vi. 103 No muckraker I, but a vapid little tomtit writing elegiacs about temple bells.
b. A type of small sailing boat, used esp. in India. Also attributive, designating this class of boat. Now rare.In quot. 1857 apparently: a type of small rowing boat.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel propelled by sail > [noun] > very small
tomtit1857
pram1929
1857 A. W. Habersham My Last Cruise xvii. 333 Some of us also took the tomtit, (a boat smaller even than the dingy).
1915 A. H. Steele in S. Playne et al. Southern India 426/3 This Club fleet consists of eight ‘Waterwags’..and two Tom-tit class boats.
1925 A. B. Armitage Cadet to Commodore xx. 278 Out with the ‘Tom-tits’ in the harbour on a breezy Saturday afternoon was another delightful sport.
2015 www.classicboatmuseum.org (Internet Archive Wayback Machine 22 Apr. 2016) Titmouse. Thought to be the only surviving example of the Tom Tit class yacht, originally built in Bombay.
3. [Rhyming slang.]
a. Shit; excrement from the bowels; (figurative) nonsense, rubbish. Also: an act of defecation.
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the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun]
magged talea1387
moonshine1468
trumperyc1485
foolishness1531
trash1542
baggage1545
flim-flam1570
gear1570
rubbisha1576
fiddle-faddle1577
stuff1579
fible-fable1581
balductum1593
pill1608
nonsense1612
skimble-skamble1619
porridge1642
mataeology1656
fiddle-come-faddle1663
apple sauce1672
balderdash1674
flummery1749
slang1762
all my eye1763
diddle-daddle1778
(all) my eye (and) Betty Martin1781
twaddle1782
blancmange1790
fudge1791
twiddle-twaddle1798
bothering1803
fee-faw-fum1811
slip-slop1811
nash-gab1816
flitter-tripe1822
effutiation1823
bladderdash1826
ráiméis1828
fiddlededee1843
pickles1846
rot1846
kelter1847
bosh1850
flummadiddle1850
poppycock1852
Barnum1856
fribble-frabble1859
kibosh1860
skittle1864
cod1866
Collyweston1867
punk1869
slush1869
stupidness1873
bilge-water1878
flapdoodle1878
tommyrot1880
ruck1882
piffle1884
flamdoodle1888
razzmatazz1888
balls1889
pop1890
narrischkeit1892
tosh1892
footle1894
tripe1895
crap1898
bunk1900
junk1906
quatsch1907
bilge1908
B.S.1912
bellywash1913
jazz1913
wash1913
bullshit?1915
kid-stakes1916
hokum1917
bollock1919
bullsh1919
bushwa1920
noise1920
bish-bosh1922
malarkey1923
posh1923
hooey1924
shit1924
heifer dust1927
madam1927
baloney1928
horse feathers1928
phonus-bolonus1929
rhubarb1929
spinach1929
toffeea1930
tomtit1930
hockey1931
phoney baloney1933
moody1934
cockalorum1936
cock1937
mess1937
waffle1937
berley1941
bull dust1943
crud1943
globaloney1943
hubba-hubba1944
pish1944
phooey1946
asswipe1947
chickenshit1947
slag1948
batshit1950
goop1950
slop1952
cack1954
doo-doo1954
cobbler1955
horse shit1955
nyamps1955
pony1956
horse manure1957
waffling1958
bird shit1959
codswallop1959
how's your father1959
dog shit1963
cods1965
shmegegge1968
pucky1970
taradiddle1970
mouthwash1971
wank1974
gobshite1977
mince1985
toss1990
arse1993
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > faeces > [noun]
gorec725
mixeOE
quedeeOE
turdeOE
dungOE
worthinga1225
dirta1300
drega1300
naturea1325
fen1340
ordurec1390
fimea1475
merd1486
stercory1496
avoidc1503
siegec1530
fex1540
excrement1541
hinder-fallings1561
gong1562
foil1565
voiding1577
pilgrim-salvec1580
egestion1583
shita1585
sir-reverence1592
purgament1597
filinga1622
faecesa1625
exclusion1646
faecality1653
tantadlin1654
surreverence1655
draught1659
excrementitiousness1660
jakes1701
old golda1704
dejection1728
dejecture1731
shitea1733
feculence1733
doll1825
crap1846
excreta1857
excretes1883
hockey1886
dejecta1887
job1899
number two1902
mess1903
ming1923
do1930
tomtit1930
pony1931
No. 21937
dog shit1944
Shinola1944
big job1945
biggie1953
doo-doo1954
doings1957
gick1959
pooh1960
pooh-pooh1962
dooky1965
poopy1970
whoopsie1973
pucky1980
jobbie1981
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [noun] > apprehension > instance or fit of
feara1625
all-overs1870
the williesa1895
heebie-jeebies1923
tomtit1930
shit1947
1930 J. Brophy & E. Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier: 1914–1918 (ed. 2) 218 Tom tit, rhyming slang for a natural function expressed in vigorous monosyllabic ‘Saxon’.
1943 ‘R. Llewellyn’ None but Lonely Heart xx. 116 ‘You're always doing it, you shower of tom tit, you.’
1967 J. Gardner Madrigal i. iii. 54 You can cut the Tom Tit, sergeant.
1970 C. Wood Terrible Hard vii. 91 Perhaps 'e stopped for a tomtit.
1988 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 11 Oct. 2/6 The kid's having a tom tit and he'll be back shortly.
2015 Sun (Nexis) 23 Apr. 13 You would rather gnaw your own leg off than watch one more politician..talking a load of Tom Tit.
b. Chiefly Australian and New Zealand. In plural with the. Diarrhoea, the ‘shits’. Frequently figurative, esp. in to give a person the tomtits: to annoy or irritate a person greatly; (also) to make a person very frightened or nervous. Cf. shit n. 8, 9.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > excretory disorders > [noun] > diarrhoea
diarrhoea1398
squirtc1460
hurl?a1513
gurry?1523
lasking1527
laxity1528
lax?1529
lask1542
skittera1585
looseness1586
scouring1597
laxativeness1610
laxness1634
squitter1664
lurry1689
thorough-go-nimble1694
wherry-go-nimble1766
the trots1808
cholerine1832
squit1841
choleriform1884
tummy1888
gippy tummy1915
shit1928
Rhea sisters1935
belly wuk1943
tomtit1944
run1946
Montezuma's revenge1955
Aztec hop1962
turista1970
1944 L. Glassop We were Rats xii. 67 ‘Break it down,’ said the corporal. ‘You'll give these blokes the tomtits before they get their first lot of C.B.’
1968 S. L. Elliott Rusty Bugles i. ii, in Three Austral. Plays 44 You blokes give me the tom-tits. Always bellyaching about something.
1973 P. A. Smith Barcoo Salute 14 What's the matter, got the tom tits?
1982 ‘L. Cody’ Bad Company xii. 80 I was just sitting there, trousers round me ankles... If I hadn't been doing it already, he'd 've given me the tom-tits.
1997 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 21 Feb. 17 The last thing a columnist wants to do is to give her editor the tomtits.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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