tit for tat

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪt fə(ɹ) ˈtæt/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪt fɚ ˈtæt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Origin uncertain; conjectured to be ultimately from Dutch dit voor dat (“this for that”) or French tant pour tant (“equal for equal”).^[1] Compare earlier tip for tap (“(a) blow for (a) blow”), from tip + tap; compare also dialectal tint for tant and tit (“a light blow or hit”). The vowel sequence follows a typical ablaut reduplication pattern.

tit for tat (plural tit for tats)

1. (idiomatic) Equivalent retribution; an act of returning exactly what one gets; an eye for an eye.

   If you hit me, I’ll hit you back; tit for tat.

   • 2006, Robert Axelrod, The evolution of cooperation, →ISBN, page 13:

     Tit for tat is the policy of cooperating on the first move and then doing whatever the other player did on the previous move. This policy means that tit for tat will defect once after each defection of the other player.

   • c. 1706, [Edward Ward], The Dutch Riddle: Or, A Character of a Hairy Monster, often Found in Holland, &c., : Sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, →OCLC, page 2:

     Could it but for a longer Space / Lengthen the Bliſs it let's us taſte, / Who would not doat on't? But alas! / The Joy's too exquiſite to laſt. / Two white Herculean Pillars prop / The tufted Gin, the tempting Snare; / When they divide, then in we pop, / Before we well know where we are. / Then that for this, and tit for tat; / But when the pleaſing Minute's flown, / As uſeleſs it returns the Bait, / And both look fooliſh when 'tis done.

   • c. 1775, Carey, The Honest Yorkshire-man. A Ballad Farce. As It is Acted at the Theatre-Royal, Dublin: Printed and sold by Thomas Wilkinson, in Winetavern Street, at the corner of Cook-Street; , →OCLC, page 23:

     This is but Tit for Tat, young Gentleman. Your Father wanted to get my Eſtate from me; and I have got the Wife he intended for you. All's fair, Sir.

   • 1864, Philip Wharton, chapter II, in Heart or Head. In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Charles J. Skeet, 10, King William Street, Charing Cross, →OCLC, page 59:

     "You'll never get her over like that. You must coax her." / "Coax the devil. Do you think I'm going to be beat by a horse?" / "It would only be tit for tat; you beat her, so she has a right to beat you."

   • 1978 spring, Georges Feydeau, “Hortense Said, ‘No Skin Off My Ass!’”, in Norman R. Shapiro, transl., edited by Maurice Charney, Comedy: New Perspectives (New York Literary Forum; 1), New York, N.Y.: New York Literary Forum, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 307:

     YVETTE. I have no idea what to make Monsieur for dinner. / FOLLBRAGUET. (beside himself) Well, that's no skin off my ass, damn it! / YVETTE. (snippily, giving him tit for tat) Well, it's certainly no skin off mine, Monsieur!

   • 2014, William M. LeoGrande, Peter Kornbluh, “Clinton: From Calibrated Response to Parallel Positive Steps”, in Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 279:

     As part of the planning for a new initiative on Cuba, the NSC [National Security Council] also revived the concept of "calibrated response." A new staffer was tasked to develop a list of "tit-for-tats" with Cuba—which sanctions might be lifted or softened in response to clear steps toward democracy by the Castro regime.

   • 2016 November 14, Arjun Kharpal, “China Warns of ‘Tit for Tat’ on iPhone Sales if Trump Starts Trade War”, in NBC News‎, archived from the original on 8 September 2017, title:

     China Warns of ‘Tit for Tat’ on iPhone Sales if Trump Starts Trade War

• eye for an eye
• a Roland for an Oliver

• tit-for-tat (adjective)

• quid pro quo

Tit for tat is a rhyme for hat.

tit for tat (plural tit for tats)

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) A hat.