Also 8 Tom teet. [See TIT sb.3 3.] A common name of the Blue Titmouse (Parus cæruleus); also locally, of the Coal Titmouse (P. ater), and the American P. atricapillus; incorrectly of other small birds, as the Wren, and the Tree-creeper.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 112, ¶ 2. To spare the Life of a Tom-Tit.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 5, ¶ 7. The Singing Birds will be Personated by Tom-tits.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 211. Tom Teet, Parus atricapillus.
1812. Combe, Picturesque, XXII. I must breathe my dogs a-bit, And try my gun at some tom-tit.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tom-tit.… by us it is applied to the wren…, tom-tit seems to belong indiscriminately to both sexes.
1909. Athenæum, 20 March, 347/1. Magee characterized somebody’s religion as insufficient for a tomtit.
b. transf. applied to a little man or boy.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (ed. 2), I. Introd. I have told you the History of this Tom-tit of a Prater.
1909. Daily News, 19 July, 11. A veritable little tomtit of a man in his jerky little ways and lively good humour.
