▪ I. tittle-tattle, n.
(ˈtɪt(ə)lˌtæt(ə)l)
Also 6 tyttel tattyll, 6–8 title(-)tatle, 7 tittel tattel.
[A reduplicated compound of tattle n., expressing repeated and alternate action: cf. next.]
1. Talk, chatter, prattle; esp. empty or trifling talk about trivial matters, petty gossip.
(In quot. a 1529 perh. used advb.)
| a 1529 Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe 357, I played with him tyttel tattyll, And fed him with my spattyl, With his byll betwene my lippes. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 226 Rhymerales..made muche tittle tattle nor would in no wyse lynne pratyng therof. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 106 'Tis but..fond womens title tatle. 1667 Pepys Diary 28 June, After a great deal of tittle-tattle with this honest man, we to bed. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 176 To..be let into all the scandal and tittle tattle of the town. 1820 Edin. Rev. XXXIII. 309 The literary tittle-tattle of the age. 1893 Leland Mem. I. 153 Inordinately given to knowing everything about everybody, and to ‘tittle-tattle’. |
b. with a and pl. An act or spell of petty talk; an item of small talk or gossip. Now rare or Obs.
| 1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosth. 47 Every man devising one tittletattle or other, as his own vaine heade imagines. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman ii. 42, I see many..to give themselves to these tittle tattles of other folks matters. 1699 R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1711) 127 The Tittle⁓tattles of the Nuns. |
† 2. A habitual tattler, one given up to gossip; esp. a woman so addicted. Obs.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Languarde, a tittle tattle, a chatting dame. 1611 Cotgr., Babillarde, a title-tatle; a pratling gossip; a babling houswife; a chatting or chattering Minx. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 157 ¶13 Your Castanets or impertinent Tittle-Tattles, who have no other Variety in their Discourse but that of talking slower or faster. |
3. attrib. or as adj. Characterized by or addicted to tattling; gossiping.
| 1719 Freethinker No. 150 ¶6 Would not an English-Man be provoked to hear the same Person cry up the Softness, the Politeness, the Copiousness of that Tittle-Tattle Language, and find Fault with the Roughness and Barrenness of his own. 1768 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 14 Such a set of tittle-tattle, prittle-prattle visitants! Oh dear! 1780 ― Diary May, Bath is as tittle-tattle a town as Lynn. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xvi, In such a tittle-tattle place as Hollingford. |
▪ II. ˈtittle-ˈtattle, v.
[A varied reduplication of tattle v.; cf. prec. and LG. titel-tateln.]
intr. To chatter, prate, talk idly; to gossip.
| 1583 Babington Commandm. ix. (1637) 92 Any woman, when she hath met with her gossip, to tittle tattle, to the slander of another. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 248. 1691 Southerne Sir A. Love v. i, A good-natur'd, old merry fellow,..who can tittle-tattle and gossip in their families upon an ancient privilege. 1765 Bickerstaff Accomplish'd Maid i. ii, It does not become servants to be tittle tattling of their masters and mistresses affairs. 1848 Thackeray Let. Oct., I should like to take another sheet and go on tittle-tattling, it drops off almost as fast as talking. |
Hence ˈtittle-ˈtattling vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˌtittle-ˈtattler, one addicted to tittle-tattle, an idle talker, a gossip.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 163 You are ful of your tittle tattling of Cupid. 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 37 But for anie other secret..they seldome or neuer impart it to these tittle tatlers. 1780 F. Burney Diary 6 Dec., His lady—tittle-tattling, monotonous, and tiresome. 1887 Smiles Life & Labour 343 It is better even to have a useless hobby than to be a tittle-tatler and a busybody. |