tit

(also called ‘titmouse’, plural – ‘titmice’)

a kind of bird – song bird – small, stocky with short, stout beak (bill), each species has its own feather colours and colour patterns, round head with different colour patterns, some species  (kinds) have crests (= a stiff short tuft of feathers on the head that stands out) relatively long tail (in some species the tail longer than the body of the bird); size: 4-9 inches long, and weight: 15-25 grams; feeds on insects, worms, and seeds and nuts in winter; lives for 7-10 years (the average lifespan may be only 2 years; some individuals in some species live for 14-21 years); about 55 (?) species (kinds) found in Northern hemisphere and Africa

Special Features:

The tits are a popular song birds that make our gardens lively.

Despite their size, tits are very aggressive at the feeding tables in the gardens and during breeding season in the woods!

Some species of tits are known to hoard (store, keep away) seeds, nuts and insects for winter use!

‘Great tits and blue tits’ are noted for their ability to break open the foil seals of the milk bottles for the cream that floats on the surface!!

Some species can break open nuts – holding a nut in one foot and hammering it with the beak until the nut is open!!

Figures of Speech:

1.

tit (noun)  =  (a)  a person small in size; a small, young girl

(b)

a teat (= the small dark growth, called ‘nipple’, on a woman’s breast through which a baby suckles milks) {slang term, not to be used in formal situations}

(c)

a woman’s breast (=the large, round mammary glands on the chest of a woman, that produce milk for babies) {not to be used in formal situations}

2.

little tit all tail [the implication is often sexual (?)]

3.

standing there like a tit in a trance  (‘trance’ = a dream-like condition) [said of someone who seems dreamy, with the mind elsewhere]

[Return to "tit ~ tit" in Words Often Confused.]

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