Teat

Forms: α. 1 tit, titt, 3 titte, 3–5 tytte, 9 dial. tit (dim. tittie). β. 3–6 tete, 4–5 teet(e, 4–7 teate, 6– teat. γ. 4–6 tette, 4–8 tet, 8 tett. δ. 4 tute. [OE. tit(t masc., cognate with MLG., MDu. titte, LG. tit(t, titte (Du. dial. tet), late MHG. zitze fem., Ger. zitz masc. str., zitze masc. and fem. wk. Tit (tittie) is now dialectal. The γ-form tette, tett, tet, and perh. also the β-form tête, teet(e, teate, whence the current teat, appear to represent F. tette, in OF. tete (12–13th c.), tette, taite; but the form-history is not clear, and in ME. there was probably mixture of the OE. and OF. forms. The OF. as well as Sp. teta, It. tetta (and zizza) are themselves generally held to be of German origin, and point to an OLG. titte fem. Ulterior etymology unknown. (The ordinary OHG. word tutta, tuta fem., tutto, tuto masc., MHG. tutte, tute fem., was app. unconnected.)]

  1.  The small protuberance at the tip of each breast or udder in female mammalia (except monotremes), upon which the ducts of the mammary gland open, and from which the milk is sucked by the young; the nipple. Formerly also applied to the whole breast or udder. (In early use, and still dial., of women; now usually of quadrupeds.)

  α.  c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xi. 27. Eadiʓ womb vel hrif seðe ðec ʓebær & ða titto vel ða breosto ða ðu ʓediides [c. 975 Rushw. ða tito vel ða breost ða ðu deðedes].

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 112. Wið titta sar wifa þe beoð melce.

c. 1205.  Lay., 5025. Þu eært mi bærn deore. Loka her þa tittes Þet þu suke mid þine lippes. Ibid., 11936. Ich heom wullen alle for-don & bi þan titten [c. 1275 tyttes] an-hon.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 43. A wolfesse … fedde … þe children, and made hem ofte souke of here owne tetes [v.r. tyttes].

a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Titties, Tits, s. pl. teats.

  β.  c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 473/376. Þanne may mi luytel sone to hire tete take.

1382.  Wyclif, Luke xi. 27. Blessid be the teetis whiche thou hast sokun.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Miller’s T., 518. I moorne as dooth a lamb after the tete.

1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, 233. Blysse we … the grete lorde, souckynge the maydenly teates of the moste meke vyrgyn.

1578.  Banister, Hist. Man, I. 9. The fashion of Tetes in a Cowes vdder.

1662.  Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., verse 17. I. v. § 1 (1669), 255/2. Here his soul sweetly sleeps, as the Child, with the Teat in its mouth.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 580.

1718.  Hutchinson, Witchcraft (1720), ix. 125–6. They procur’d some of them to be search’d, that they might see if they had not Teats, or the Devil’s Marks.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 103. The teats of some, as in the ape and the elephant, are like those of men, being but two.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 700. Sometimes there are more pigs littered than the sow has teats to give to each.

  γ.  a. 1325.  Tettes [see b].

13[?].  S. E. Leg. (MS. Bodl. 779), in Herrig, Archiv, LXXXII. 342/322. Þis me lykeþ bet Þan me dede in my ȝouþe mylk of any tet.

1565–73.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Admitto, Admittere pastum ad vbera, to receiue to the tette.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 323. The Cows Dug by some is called the Tet.

1709.  Prior, Callimachus’ 1st Hymn to Jupiter, 55. Kind Amalthea reach’d her Tett, distent With Milk.

  δ.  c. 1400.  R. Glouc.’s Chron. (Rolls), App. G. 196. Þeos tutes [v.r. tetys] þou soke ylome.

  † b.  In allusive expressions, as at the teat, (a suckling) at the breast; from the teat(s, from infancy.

a. 1325.  Prose Psalter, xxi[i]. 8. Þou art myn hope from þe tettes of my moder.

c. 1440.  Capgrave, St. Kath., I. 242. Mercy fro þe tetys grew wyth hyr.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 145. Euen at thy Teat thou had’st thy Tyranny.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. v. 1454. Vs our kinde Colledge from the teate did teare.

a. 1635.  Naunton, Fragm. Reg. (Arb.), 26. He left a plentiful Estate, and such a Son, who, as the vulgar speaks it, could live without the teat.

  † c.  fig. A source of nourishment or supply. Obs.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 232. Putte fro þe þe tetys of ydylnes, þat þou souke no more þer-of for no delyȝt!

1569.  Irish Act 11 Eliz., Stat. III. c. 1. Preamb., That … most detestable coyne and liverie, which was the very nurse and teat that gave suck and nutriment to all disobediences.

a. 1631.  Donne, Lett. (1651), 102. The channels of God’s mercies run through both fields, and they are sister teats of his graces.

1675.  Hobbes, Odyssey, VII. (1686), 88. His Riches was a never-dying Teat.

  2.  transf. A structure, natural or artificial, resembling a teat; a nipple: see quots.

1587.  Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1627), 12. Such superfluous flesh on the tongue of cattel wil hinder the beast oftentimes in eating his meate, being called of some husbandes the Barbes, Teates.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 253. Nature has supplied this animal [spider] with … five dugs or teats for spinning it into thread.

1835.  Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., xix. II. 284. These teats are connected with internal reservoirs, which yield the fluid matter forming the thread or web.

1864.  Webster, Teat … 2. (Mach.) A small nozzle resembling a teat.

1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Teat, a small, rounded, perforated projection, otherwise called a nipple, as that of a gun.

1890.  [see teat drill in 3].

  3.  attrib. and Comb., as teat-like adj.; teat-cup, teat drill (see quots.); teat-fish (Australia), a sea-slug of the genus Holothuria, esp. H. mammifera, so called from its papillæ; † teat-head, the nipple; teat-stud, one of the metal studs, commonly called ‘buttons,’ with which the front of a page’s jacket is ornamented; teat-worm, the common thread-worm (Oxyuris vermicularis).

1862.  Morn. Star, 19 June. The cow-milker … consisting of two diaphragm pumps … to which four *teat-cups are attached for receiving the teats of the cow.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 8 Oct., 8/2. A glass lid … enables the attendant to see when a cow is finished, and then by simply turning a stop-cock the teat-cups fall off.

1890.  Cent. Dict., s.v. Drill, *Teat drill, a square-faced cylindrical drill with a sharp, pyramidal projection or teat issuing from the center of the cutting face.

1894.  B. Thomson, S. Sea Yarns, 256. The reef swarmed with *teat-fish.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 347. Such beasts as be very fruitful … haue many nipples or *teat heads all along their belly.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxx. 149. A great number of Lepidopterous larvæ … have between the under-lip and fore-legs a slender transverse opening, containing a *teat-like protuberance.

1910.  J. Platt, Jun., Lett. to Editor, *Teat-stud, technical term, used by tailors for the tiny plated or gilt buttons which are sewn as closely together as possible down the front of a page’s jacket. The teat-stud or tit-stud is quite unique in shape.

1899.  Cagney, Jaksch’s Clin. Diagn., vi. (ed. 4), 226. Oxyuris vermicularis (common thread-worm or *teat-worm).