Webster's Dictionary, 1913
Titler noun A large truncated cone of refined sugar.
Titling noun [ Icelandic
titlingr a tit sparrow. See
Tit a small bird.]
1. (Zoology) (a) The hedge sparrow; -- called also titlene . Its nest often chosen by the cuckoo as a place for depositing its own eggs. The titling , . . . being thus deceived, hatcheth the egg, and bringeth up the chick of another bird.
Holland. (b) The meadow pipit. 2. Stockfish; -- formerly so called in customhouses.
Titmal noun The blue titmouse. [ Prov. Eng.]
Titmouse noun ;
plural Titmice . [ Middle English
titemose ,
titmase ;
tit small, or a small bird + Anglo-Saxon
māse a kind of small bird; akin to Dutch
mees a titmouse, German
meise , Old High German
meisa , Icelandic
meisingr . The English form has been influenced by the unrelated word
mouse . Confer
Tit a small bird.]
(Zoology) Any one of numerous species of small insectivorous singing birds belonging to Parus and allied genera; -- called also tit , and tomtit . » The blue titmouse (
Parus cœruleus ), the marsh titmouse (
P. palustris ), the crested titmouse (
P. cristatus ), the great titmouse (
P. major ), and the long tailed titmouse (
Ægithalos caudatus ), are the best-known European species. See
Chickadee .
Titrate transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Titrated ;
present participle & verbal noun Titrating .] [ French
titrer , from
titre standard, title. See
Title ,
noun ]
(Chemistry) To analyse, or determine the strength of, by means of standard solutions. Confer Standardized solution , under Solution .
Titrated adjective (Chemistry) Standardized; determined or analyzed by titration; as, titrated solutions.
Titration noun (Chemistry) The act or process of titrating; a substance obtained by titrating.
Titter transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Tittered ;
present participle & verbal noun Tittering .] [ Probably of imitative origin.]
To laugh with the tongue striking against the root of the upper teeth; to laugh with restraint, or without much noise; to giggle. A group of tittering pages ran before.
Longfellow.
Titter noun A restrained laugh. "There was a titter of . . . delight on his countenance." Coleridge.
Titter intransitive verb To seesaw. See Teeter .
Titter-totter intransitive verb See Teeter .
Titterel noun The whimbrel. [ Prov. Eng.]
Tittimouse noun (Zoology) Titmouse. [ Prov. Eng.]
Tittle noun [ Middle English
titel ,
titil , apparently a dim. of
tit , in the sense of small; confer German
tüttel a tittle, dim. of Old High German
tutta teat. Perhaps, however, the same word as
title , noun ]
A particle; a minute part; a jot; an iota. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Luke xvi. 17. Every tittle of this prophecy is most exactly verified.
South.
Tittle-tattle noun [ A reduplication of tattle .]
1. Idle, trifling talk; empty prattle. Arbuthnot. 2. An idle, trifling talker; a gossip. [ R.] Tatler.
Tittle-tattle intransitive verb To talk idly; to prate. Shak.
Tittle-tattling noun The act or habit of parting idly or gossiping.
Tittlebat noun (Zoology) The three-spined stickleback. [ Prov. Eng.]
Tittup intransitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Tittuped or
Tittupped ;
present participle & verbal noun Tittuping or
Tittupping .] [ Written also
titup .] [ Confer
Teeter .]
To behave or move in a lively or restless manner, as an impatient horse; to caper; to prance; to frisk. Kipling.
Tittup noun The act of tittuping; lively, gay, or restless behavior or gait; a prance or caper. [ Written also titup .]
Tittuppy adjective Given to tittuping; gay; lively; prancing; also, shaky; unsteady.
Titty noun A little teat; a nipple. [ Familiar]
Titubate intransitive verb [ Latin titubatus , past participle of titubare to stagger, totter.]
1. To stumble. [ Obsolete] 2. To rock or roll, as a curved body on a plane.
Titubation noun [ Latin titubatio : confer French titubation .] The act of stumbling, rocking, or rolling; a reeling. Quain.
Titular adjective [ French
titulaire , from Latin
titulus . See
Title .]
Existing in title or name only; nominal; having the title to an office or dignity without discharging its appropriate duties; as, a titular prince. If these magnificent titles yet remain
Not merely titular .
Milton. Titular bishop .
See under Bishop .
Titular noun A titulary. [ R.]
Titularity noun The quality or state of being titular. [ R.] Sir T. Browne.
Titularly adverb In a titular manner; nominally; by title only.
Titulary noun ;
plural Titularies . [ Confer French
titulaire .]
A person invested with a title, in virtue of which he holds an office or benefice, whether he performs the duties of it or not.
Titulary adjective
1. Consisting in a title; titular. 2. Of or pertaining to a title.
Tituled adjective Having a title. [ Obsolete] Fuller.
Tiver noun [ Anglo-Saxon teáfor , teáfur .] A kind of ocher which is used in some parts of England in marking sheep. [ Prov. Eng.]
Tiver transitive verb To mark with tiver. [ Prov. Eng.]
Tivoli noun [ Prob. from Tivoli in Italy, a pleasure resort not far from Rome.] A game resembling bagatelle, played on a special oblong board or table ( Tivoli board or table ), which has a curved upper end, a set of numbered compartments at the lower end, side alleys, and the surface studded with pins and sometimes furnished with numbered depressions or cups.
Tivy adverb [ See
Tantivy .]
With great speed; -- a huntsman's word or sound. Dryden.
Tiza noun [ CF. Spanish
tiza whitening, a kind of chalk or pipe clay.]
(Chemistry) See Ulexite .
Tlinkit noun plural The Indians of a seafaring group of tribes of southern Alaska comprising the Koluschan stock. Previous to deterioration from contact with the whites they were the foremost traders of the northwest. They built substantial houses of cedar adorned with totem poles, and were expert stone carvers and copper workers. Slavery, the potlatch, and the use of immense labrets were characteristic. Many now work in the salmon industry.
Tmesis (mē"sĭs or t'mē"sĭs; 277) noun [ Latin , from Greek tmh^sis a cutting, from te`mnein to cut.] (Gram.) The separation of the parts of a compound word by the intervention of one or more words; as, in what place soever , for whatsoever place .
To (...,
emphatic or alone , ...,
obscure or unemphatic )
preposition [ Anglo-Saxon
tō ; akin to Old Saxon & OFries.
tō , Dutch
toe , German
zu , Old High German
zuo ,
zua ,
zō , Russian
do , Ir. & Gael.
do , OL.
-do ,
-du , as in
endo ,
indu , in, Greek ..., as in ... homeward. √200. Confer
Too ,
Tatoo a beat of drums.]
1. The preposition to primarily indicates approach and arrival, motion made in the direction of a place or thing and attaining it, access; and also, motion or tendency without arrival; movement toward; -- opposed to from . "
To Canterbury they wend."
Chaucer. Stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
Shak. So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled.
Milton. I'll to him again, . . .
He'll tell me all his purpose.
She stretched her arms to heaven.
Dryden. 2. Hence, it indicates motion, course, or tendency toward a time, a state or condition, an aim, or anything capable of being regarded as a limit to a tendency, movement, or action; as, he is going to a trade; he is rising to wealth and honor. » Formerly, by omission of the verb denoting motion,
to sometimes followed a form of
be , with the sense of
at , or
in . "When the sun was [ gone or declined]
to rest."
Chaucer. 3. In a very general way, and with innumerable varieties of application, to connects transitive verbs with their remoter or indirect object, and adjectives, nouns, and neuter or passive verbs with a following noun which limits their action. Its sphere verges upon that of for , but it contains less the idea of design or appropriation; as, these remarks were addressed to a large audience; let us keep this seat to ourselves; a substance sweet to the taste; an event painful to the mind; duty to God and to our parents; a dislike to spirituous liquor. Marks and points out each man of us to slaughter.
B. Jonson. Whilst they, distilled
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
Stand dumb and speak not to him.
Shak. Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Pet. i. 5,6,7. I have a king's oath to the contrary.
Shak. Numbers were crowded to death.
Clarendon. Fate and the dooming gods are deaf to tears.
Dryden. Go, buckle to the law.
Dryden. 4. As sign of the infinitive, to had originally the use of last defined, governing the infinitive as a verbal noun, and connecting it as indirect object with a preceding verb or adjective; thus, ready to go, i . e ., ready unto going; good to eat, i . e ., good for eating; I do my utmost to lead my life pleasantly. But it has come to be the almost constant prefix to the infinitive, even in situations where it has no prepositional meaning, as where the infinitive is direct object or subject; thus, I love to learn, i . e ., I love learning; to die for one's country is noble, i . e ., the dying for one's country. Where the infinitive denotes the design or purpose, good usage formerly allowed the prefixing of for to the to ; as, what went ye out for see? ( Matt. xi. 8 ). Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages,
And palmers for to seeken strange stranders.
Chaucer. Such usage is now obsolete or illiterate. In colloquial usage,
to often stands for, and supplies, an infinitive already mentioned; thus, he commands me
to go with him, but I do not wish
to .
5. In many phrases, and in connection with many other words, to has a pregnant meaning, or is used elliptically. Thus, it denotes or implies:
(a) Extent; limit; degree of comprehension; inclusion as far as; as, they met us to the number of three hundred. We ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.
Shak. Few of the Esquimaux can count to ten.
Quant. Rev. (b) Effect; end; consequence; as, the prince was flattered to his ruin; he engaged in a war to his cost; violent factions exist to the prejudice of the state. (c) Apposition; connection; antithesis; opposition; as, they engaged hand to hand. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.
1 Cor. xiii. 12. (d) Accord; adaptation; as, an occupation to his taste; she has a husband to her mind. He to God's image, she to his was made.
Dryden. (e) Comparison; as, three is to nine as nine is to twenty-seven; it is ten to one that you will offend him. All that they did was piety to this.
B. Jonson. (f) Addition; union; accumulation. Wisdom he has, and to his wisdom, courage.
Denham. (g) Accompaniment; as, she sang to his guitar; they danced to the music of a piano. Anon they move
In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
Of flutes and soft recorders.
Milton. (h) Character; condition of being; purpose subserved or office filled. [ In this sense archaic] "I have a king here
to my flatterer."
Shak. Made his masters and others . . . to consider him to a little wonder.
Walton. »
To in
to-day ,
to-night , and
to-morrow has the sense or force of
for or
on ;
for , or
on , (this) day,
for , or
on , (this) night,
for , or
on , (the) morrow.
To-day ,
to-night ,
to- morrow may be considered as compounds, and usually as adverbs; but they are sometimes used as nouns; as,
to-day is ours.
To-morrow , and to-morrow , and to- morrow ;
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.
Shak. To and again ,
to and fro. [ R.] --
To and fro ,
forward and back. In this phrase, to is adverbial. There was great showing both to and fro .
Chaucer. --
To-and-fro ,
a pacing backward and forward; as, to commence a to-and-fro . Tennyson. --
To the face ,
in front of; in behind; hence, in the presence of. --
To wit ,
to know; namely. See Wit , intransitive verb »
To , without an object expressed, is used adverbially; as, put
to the door,
i. e. , put the door to its frame, close it; and in the nautical expressions, to heave
to , to come
to , meaning to a certain position.
To , like
on , is sometimes used as a command,
forward ,
set to . "
To , Achilles!
to , Ajax!
to !"
Shak.
To- (?, see
To ,
preposition ), [ Anglo-Saxon
to- asunder; akin to German
zer- , and perhaps to Latin
dis- , or Greek ....]
An obsolete intensive prefix used in the formation of compound verbs; as in to -beat, to -break, to -hew, to - rend, to -tear. See these words in the Vocabulary. See the Note on All to , or All-to , under All , adverb
Toad noun [ Middle English
tode ,
tade , Anglo-Saxon
tādie ,
tādige ; of unknown origin. Confer
Tadpole .]
(Zoology) Any one of numerous species of batrachians belonging to the genus Bufo and allied genera, especially those of the family Bufonidæ . Toads are generally terrestrial in their habits except during the breeding season, when they seek the water. Most of the species burrow beneath the earth in the daytime and come forth to feed on insects at night. Most toads have a rough, warty skin in which are glands that secrete an acrid fluid. » The common toad (
Bufo vulgaris ) and the natterjack are familiar European species. The common American toad (
B. lentiginosus ) is similar to the European toad, but is less warty and is more active, moving chiefly by leaping.
Obstetrical toad .
(Zoology) See under Obstetrical . --
Surinam toad .
(Zoology) See Pita . --
Toad lizard (Zoology) ,
a horned toad. --
Toad pipe (Botany) ,
a hollow-stemmed plant ( Equisetum limosum ) growing in muddy places. Dr. Prior. --
Toad rush (Botany) ,
a low-growing kind of rush ( Juncus bufonius ). --
Toad snatcher (Zoology) ,
the reed bunting. [ Prov. Eng.] --
Toad spittle .
(Zoology) See Cuckoo spit , under Cuckoo . --
Tree toad .
(Zoology) See under Tree .
Toadeater noun [ Said to be so called in allusion to an old alleged practice among mountebanks' boys of eating toads (popularly supposed to be poisonous), in order that their masters might have an opportunity of pretending to effect a cure. The French equivalent expression is
un avaleur de couleuvres . Confer
Toady .]
A fawning, obsequious parasite; a mean sycophant; a flatterer; a toady. V. Knox. You had nearly imposed upon me, but you have lost your labor. You're too zealous a toadeater , and betray yourself.
Dickens.
Toadfish noun (Zoology) (a) Any marine fish of the genus Batrachus , having a large, thick head and a wide mouth, and bearing some resemblance to a toad. The American species ( Batrachus tau ) is very common in shallow water. Called also oyster fish , and sapo . (b) The angler. (c) A swellfish.
Toadflax noun (Botany) An herb ( Linaria vulgaris ) of the Figwort family, having narrow leaves and showy orange and yellow flowers; -- called also butter and eggs , flaxweed , and ramsted .
Toadhead noun (Zoology) The golden plover. [ Local, U. S.]
Toadish adjective Like a toad. [ Obsolete] A. Stafford.
Toadlet noun A small toad. [ R.] Coleridge.
Toadstone noun 1. (Min.) A local name for the igneous rocks of Derbyshire, England; -- said by some to be derived from the German todter stein , meaning dead stone , that is, stone which contains no ores. 2. Bufonite, formerly regarded as a precious stone, and worn as a jewel. See Bufonite .
Toadstool noun (Botany) A name given to many umbrella-shaped fungi, mostly of the genus Agaricus . The species are almost numberless. They grow on decaying organic matter.