▪ I. titling, n.
(ˈtɪtlɪŋ)
[f. tit n.3 + -ling. Cf. Norw. dial. titling a small size of dried stockfish (Aasen), Icel. titlingr sparrow: see Biörkman Indog. Forsch. XXX. 269.]
† 1. A small size of stockfish. Obs.
| 1386–7 Letter Bk. H. Lond. lf. 212 b, De qualibet centena de alio Stokfissh vocat' Croplyng et Titlyng. 1545 Rates of Customs c vj, Stokfish called cropling the last v. li... Stokfysshe called tytling the last l.s. 1660 Act Chas. II, c. 4 Sched. Rates Inwards, Stockfish voc. Cropling, Lubfish, Titling. 1818 Scott Rob Roy ii, ‘Stockfish—Titling—Cropling—Lubfish. You should have noted that they are all, nevertheless, to be entered as titlings.—How many inches long is a titling?’.. ‘Eighteen inches, sir’. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Titling, an old Customs name for stockfish. |
2. Name for various small birds. a. The hedge-sparrow. (Now only Sc. and north. dial.) b. = titlark. c. (rarely) = titmouse.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The titlene follouit the goilk, ande gart hyr sing guk guk. 1552 Elyot, Curruca.., a litle byrd, which hatcheth and bryngeth vp cuckow byrdes. It is supposed to be an hedge sparowe, or rather a titlyng. 1611 Cotgr., Argatile, a kind of titling, or titmouse. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 191 The Cuckow ever lays her Egg in the Titling's Nest. 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict., Warbler, Hedge,..Provincial. Titling. Dunnock... Commonly called Hedge Sparrow. 1831 Ibid. 246 Hedge Chanter... Provincial..Dunnock, Dick-Dunnock, Titling. Ibid. 512 Titling. A name for the Meadow Pipit and Hedge Chaunter. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Titlene, When two persons are so intimate that the one obsequiously follows the other, it is said, ‘They are as grit as the gowk and the titlene’. 1829 E. Elliott Vill. Patriarch iv. vii, Hark, how the titling whistles o'er the road! 1852 F. O. Morris Brit: Birds II. 166 Rock Pipit. Rock Lark. Sea Lark. Field Lark... Sea Titling. 1882 J. Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 429 He had frequently..watched young cuckoos while being fed by titlings (Anthus pratensis). 1885 Swainson Provinc. Names Birds 45 Meadow Pipit..also Titling, or Tit. |
▪ II. titling, vbl. n.
(ˈtaɪt(ə)lɪŋ)
[f. title v. + -ing1.]
The action of title v. † a. A writing down under titles or heads; an abstract. Obs. b. The giving of a title; a naming.
| 1465 J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 219 He must..see his billes of payment, and take therof a titelyng. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xix. 34 b, He must begyn at a certayne place..and there to make his tytelynge where he beginneth. 1894 H. Gamlin Romney 148 The titling of the engraving came about this way. |
c. The action of providing a film, television programme, or photograph with captions or titles (sense 1 c).
| 1913 Moving Picture World 4 Oct. 25 The perfect picture tells its story without any titles, but as there are very few perfect pictures good titling becomes a necessity. 1958 Punch 1 Jan. 80/2 This horrible cliché of TV drama presentation, known to the trade as delayed titling. 1966 Ibid. 22 June 922/1 We may have seen an unsuccessful copy [of the Yugoslavian film Covek Nija Tica], and certainly the titling wasn't very efficient. 1970 Amateur Photographer 11 Mar. 61/1 Positive in the camera comes into its own for titling. |
Sense c in Dict. becomes d. Add: c. Printing. A type fount consisting of full-faced capitals, used esp. for titles and headings. Also attrib., as titling fount, titling letter.
| 1887 T. B. Reed Hist. Old Eng. Letter Founders xix. 353 The specimen exhibits ten pages of large titling letters. 1892 A. Oldfield Man. Typogr. iv. 42 The Half Title usually consists of two or three lines only, and is best set in plain titlings, half the size of the title itself, or a little less. 1970 W. P. Jaspert et al. Encycl. Type Faces (ed. 4) 243 Zephyr... An accentuated outline titling, giving a somewhat three-dimensional effect. 1983 Barker & Collins Sequel to ‘Enquiry 19th Cent. Pamphlets’ vi. 85 Beside body-letter, a founder might supply titling founts, of capitals only. Ibid. vii. 101 It is no great surprise to find that the bulk of the ordinary titlings..are from Stephenson Blake. |