TIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tit mean? 

• TIT (noun)
  The noun TIT has 3 senses:

1. either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

2. the small projection of a mammary gland

3. small insectivorous birds

  Familiarity information: TIT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

boob; bosom; breast; knocker; tit; titty

Hypernyms ("tit" is a kind of...):

mamma; mammary gland (milk-secreting organ of female mammals)

Meronyms (parts of "tit"):

lactiferous duct (ducts of the mammary gland that carry milk to the nipple)

areola; ring of color (small circular area such as that around the human nipple or an inflamed area around a pimple or insect bite)

Holonyms ("tit" is a part of...):

adult female body; woman's body (the body of an adult woman)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The small projection of a mammary gland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

mamilla; mammilla; nipple; pap; teat; tit

Hypernyms ("tit" is a kind of...):

reproductive organ; sex organ (any organ involved in sexual reproduction)

Holonyms ("tit" is a part of...):

mamma; mammary gland (milk-secreting organ of female mammals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Small insectivorous birds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

tit; titmouse

Hypernyms ("tit" is a kind of...):

oscine; oscine bird (passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tit"):

chickadee (any of various small grey-and-black songbirds of North America)

Parus bicolor; tufted titmouse (crested titmouse of eastern and midwestern United States)

blue tit; Parus caeruleus; tomtit (widely distributed European titmouse with bright cobalt blue wings and tail and crown of the head)

bush tit; bushtit (active grey titmice of western North America)

Chamaea fasciata; wren-tit (small brown bird of California resembling a wren)

Auriparus flaviceps; verdin (very small yellow-headed titmouse of western North America)

Holonyms ("tit" is a member of...):

family Paridae; Paridae (titmice and chickadees)

 Context examples 

Something great tits don’t eat, however, is a seven-spotted ladybird.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

But, see here, Jim—tit for tat—you save Long John from swinging.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My uncle had just set forth, as was his custom of an evening, clad in his green riding-frock, his plate buttons, his Cordovan boots, and his round hat, to show himself upon his crop-tailed tit in the Mall.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One of the most common ladybird species is bright red, and goes untouched by great tits.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

A new study of TV-watching great tits reveals how they learn through observation.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

Famously, species of tit learned how to pierce milk bottle lids and siphon the cream during the middle of last century – a phenomenon that spread rapidly through flocks across the UK.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

Without social transmission taking place in predator species such as great tits, it becomes extremely difficult for conspicuously coloured prey to outlast and outcompete alternative prey, even if they are distasteful or toxic.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

Other insects that are camouflaged, such as the brown larch ladybird or green winter moth caterpillar, are fed on by great tits and their young, said Thorogood.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

This study using the great tit species as a “model predator” has shown that if one bird observes another being repulsed by a new type of prey, then both birds learn the lesson to stay away.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

By filming a great tit having a terrible dining experience with conspicuous prey, then showing it on a television to other tits before tracking their meal selection, researchers found that birds acquired a better idea of which prey to avoid: those that stand out.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)