[In 17th c., tyd bit, tid-bit, f. TID a. + BIT; later also tit-bit, perh. after compounds of TIT sb.3]
A small and delicate or appetizing piece of food; a toothsome morsel, delicacy, bonne bouche.
α. c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1885), III. 25. A tyd bit, i. e. a speciall morsell reserved to eat at last.
1701. Collier, M. Aurel. (1726), 13. To be always loading the table, and eating of tid-bits.
1755. Connoisseur, No. 87 (1774), III. 123. For fear any tid-bit should be snapped up before him, he snatches at it … greedily.
1834. L. Ritchie, Wand. by Seine, 185. The sturgeons, the finest salmons, and other tid-bits of the fishery.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 436/2. [The coon] locating many a tid-bit by means of his sharp nose and bright eyes.
β. 1694. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xlvi. He promis’d double Pay … to any one that should bring him such a Tit-bit piping-bot.
1727. Arbuthnot, John Bull, Postscr. ix. How John pamper’d Esquire South with Tit-bits, till he grew wanton.
1861. J. Pycroft, Agony Point (1862), 363. To see … such tarts and tit-bits.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., xxv. No more tit-bits of hashed chicken specially picked out for her.
b. fig.; spec. a brief and isolated interesting item of news or information; hence in pl., name of a periodical consisting of such items.
α. 1735. Fielding, Eurydice, I. i. My farce is an Oglio of tid-bits.
1776. Foote, Capuchin, III. Wks. 1799, II. 401. A fine girl, as I live! too nice a tid-bit for an apprentice.
1883. C. Reade, in Harper’s Mag., June, 94/1. He furnished me … several tidbits that figure in my printed works.
β. 1908. Brit. Apollo, No. 40. 2/2. Many of them [women] are Tit Bits.
a. 1814. Last Act, Prol., in New Brit. Theatre, II. 361. A new tit bit fresh from some author’s brain.
1887–9. T. A. Trollope, What I remember, II. vi. 100. During the singing of the well-known tit-bits of any opera.
c. attrib.
1767. A. Campbell, Lexiph. (1774), 56. We expedited ambassadors with plenary powers to procure us buttered buns,… tart tit-bit tartlets.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 167. Such dainty little schemes—such tit-bit thoughts.
1900. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), June, 240. The danger … is that it should lead to the application of the tit-bits method to the teaching of geography.
Hence Tit-bitical, Tit-bitty adjs. (nonce-wds.), of the nature of, consisting or full of tit-bits.
1887. Gurney, Tertium Quid, II. 24. He is really the tit-bittiest of composers.
1890. Speaker, 5 April, 369/1. Those journalistic abortions of the tit-bitical kind … now so common.
1899. J. G. Millais, Life Sir J. E. Millais, I. iii. 81. Every tit-bitty paper … repeated the tale.
