| 释义 |
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.)
αc1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 165 (Fr.) Musenge, a titemose. c1400Lydg. Flour Curtesye 57 The sely wrenne, the titmose also. c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 640/28 Nomina auium... Hic frondator, tytmase. c1440Promp. Parv. 494/2 Tytemose, bryd, frondator. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 762/32 Hec agredula, a tetmose. c1537Thersytes in Four O. Pl. (1848) 82 The tothe of the tytmus. 1570Levins Manip. 149/3 Titmose.
β1530Palsgr. 281/2 Tytmouse a byrde, musangere. 1573–80Baret Alv. T 271 A Tittimous bird, fringillago. 1576Gascoigne Compl. Philomene 26 Sometimes I wepe To see Tom Tyttimouse, so much set by. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Magnif. 705 Finch, Linot, Tit-mouse, Wag-tail (Cock & Hen). 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 191 Titmice are of divers Shapes with us in England. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 243/1 The Bird Cole-Mouse..we in our Countrey call Tittimous or Mop. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 259 A little species of titmouse. 1872Coues 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).
1609Great titmouse [see coalmouse]. 1611Cotgr., Mesange à la longue queuë, the long-tayled Titmouse. 1668Charleton Onomast. 90 Parus Cristatus, the Crested, or Juniper Titmouse. Ibid., Parus Palustris..the Black Cap, or Fen-Titmouse. 1674Ray Collect., Eng. Birds 87 The black-headed Titmouse: Parus ater. Ibid., The Marsh Titmouse: Parus palustris. Ibid. 88 The blew Titmouse: Parus cæruleus. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. i. i. (1714) 5 note, I made..Experiments in compressed air,..one with the Great Titmouse, the other with a Sparrow. 1774G. 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. 1858Kingsley 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]. 1896Newton 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.
1596Nashe Saffron-Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 197 Noddy Nash,..his Apostrophe Sonnet, and tynie titmouse Lenuoy, like a welt at the edge of a garment. 1623Middleton More Dissemblers iii. i, You can keep a little tit-mouse page there. 1680Otway Caius Marius v. xi, Nurse. Wake her? Poor Titmouse. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 446 In..Sept. 1658..the Titmouse Prince called Richard was inaugurated to the Protectorate. |
