titmouse
(ˈtɪtmaʊs)
Pl. titmice (-maɪs). Forms: α. 4 titemose, 4–6 titmose, 5 tyte-, tetmose, tytmase, 6 tytmus. β. 6 tytmouse, (6–7 tytti-, tittimous(e, 7–9 titty-), 6– titmouse.
[ME. titmōse, f. tit n.3 3 + mose n. a titmouse. In the 16th c., when mose had long been obsolete as an independent word, and in titmose had become stressless (cf. the form tytmus), it was interpreted as mouse, with pl. titmice. The smallness and quick mouse-like movements of the common species probably aided the corruption. Titty-mouse was app. a childish or rustic adaptation.]
1. A bird of the genus Parus or family Paridæ, comprising small active birds, of which numerous species are distributed over the northern hemisphere, several being common in Britain: see 2. (Now commonly shortened to tit: see tit n.3 3.)
| α c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 165 (Fr.) Musenge, a titemose. c 1400 Lydg. Flour Curtesye 57 The sely wrenne, the titmose also. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 640/28 Nomina auium... Hic frondator, tytmase. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 494/2 Tytemose, bryd, frondator. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 762/32 Hec agredula, a tetmose. c 1537 Thersytes in Four O. Pl. (1848) 82 The tothe of the tytmus. 1570 Levins Manip. 149/3 Titmose. |
| β 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Tytmouse a byrde, musangere. 1573–80 Baret Alv. T 271 A Tittimous bird, fringillago. 1576 Gascoigne Compl. Philomene 26 Sometimes I wepe To see Tom Tyttimouse, so much set by. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Magnif. 705 Finch, Linot, Tit-mouse, Wag-tail (Cock & Hen). 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 191 Titmice are of divers Shapes with us in England. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 243/1 The Bird Cole-Mouse..we in our Countrey call Tittimous or Mop. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 259 A little species of titmouse. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 80 The Titmice compose a natural and pretty well defined group. |
2. With qualification, denoting various species of Parus or of the family Paridæ, as
black-cap or black-headed titmouse, any species having black feathers on the head, as the coat-tit (Parus ater), the American chickadee (P. atricapillus), or the marsh-titmouse; blue t., P. cæruleus, also called bluecap or nun; coal t., P. ater (see coal-tit); crested t., Parus (Lophophanes) cristatus, or any species of the sub-genus Lophophanes; fen t. = marsh t.; great t., Parus major, also called ox-eye; long-tailed t., Acredula caudata; marsh t., Parus palustris; penduline t., ægithalus pendulinus (see penduline 1).
| 1609 Great titmouse [see coalmouse]. 1611 Cotgr., Mesange à la longue queuë, the long-tayled Titmouse. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 90 Parus Cristatus, the Crested, or Juniper Titmouse. Ibid., Parus Palustris..the Black Cap, or Fen-Titmouse. 1674 Ray Collect., Eng. Birds 87 The black-headed Titmouse: Parus ater. Ibid., The Marsh Titmouse: Parus palustris. Ibid. 88 The blew Titmouse: Parus cæruleus. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. i. i. (1714) 5 note, I made..Experiments in compressed air,..one with the Great Titmouse, the other with a Sparrow. 1774 G. White Selborne xl, The titmouse, which early in February begins to make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw, is the marsh titmouse. Ibid. xli, The blue titmouse or nun is a great frequenter of houses, and a general devourer. Ibid., The blue, marsh, and great titmice will, in very severe weather, carry away barley and oat straws from the sides of ricks. 1858 Kingsley Misc., Winter-gard. I. 146 That flock of long-tailed titmice, which were twinging and pecking about the fir-cones. |
b. bearded titmouse, a small bird (Panurus biarmicus), of doubtful affinity, frequenting reedbeds; also called reed-pheasant.
| 1848 [see reed-pheasant s.v. reed n.1 14]. 1896 Newton Dict. Birds 969 The so-called ‘Bearded Titmouse’,..has habits wholly unlike those of any of the foregoing, and certainly does not belong to the Family Paridæ. |
3. fig. A small, petty, or insignificant person or thing. Also attrib.
| 1596 Nashe Saffron-Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 197 Noddy Nash,..his Apostrophe Sonnet, and tynie titmouse Lenuoy, like a welt at the edge of a garment. 1623 Middleton More Dissemblers iii. i, You can keep a little tit-mouse page there. 1680 Otway Caius Marius v. xi, Nurse. Wake her? Poor Titmouse. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 446 In..Sept. 1658..the Titmouse Prince called Richard was inaugurated to the Protectorate. |