Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
tittle-tattle. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
tittle-tattle, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
tittle-tattle in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
tittle-tattle you have here. The definition of the word
tittle-tattle will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
tittle-tattle, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Reduplication of tattle.
Noun
tittle-tattle (countable and uncountable, plural tittle-tattles)
- (uncountable) Petty, idle gossip.
1733, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], Alexander Pope, compiler, “Law is a Bottomless Pit. Or, The History of John Bull. . The Second Part. Chapter XI.”, in Miscellanies, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Benjamin Motte, , →OCLC, page 114:Every idle Tittle-tattle that went about, Jack was always ſuſpected for the author of it: […]
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The History of Pendennis. , volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1849–1850, →OCLC:She has trouble enough on her hands, with the affairs of that silly young scapegrace, without being pestered by the tittle-tattle of this place. It is all an invention of that fool, Fribsby.
2023 October 6, Ryan Gilbey, “The double life of Rock Hudson: ‘Let’s be frank, he was a horndog!’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:And, when rumours about him surfaced in the form of insinuating magazine articles demanding to know why he hadn’t found a wife yet, his wily agent Henry Willson made sure that none of them stuck, even if it meant leaking tittle-tattle about other clients instead.
- An idle, trifling talker; a gossip.
1777, The Tatler; Or, Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq, volume 4, Dublin: W. Whitestone, W. Watson, J. Williams, W. Wilson, edition of The Tatler n° 268 (1710) by Richard Steele, page 324:If I can once extirpate the race of solid and substantial humdrums, I hope by my wholesome and repeated advices, quickly to reduce the insignificant tittle-tattles and matter-of-fact-men that abound in every quarter of this great city.
Translations
Verb
tittle-tattle (third-person singular simple present tittle-tattles, present participle tittle-tattling, simple past and past participle tittle-tattled)
- To engage in gossip.
1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:‘I hope you two have been mewed in with that old pussy long enough. While you’ve been tittle-tattling I’ve been doing, — listen to what this bobby’s got to say.’
- To spread gossip.