dial. (chiefly Sc.) Also 4–5 tyt, 4–6 titte; pa. t. 4 tite, (tyd), 4–5 tit, titt, tyt, 5 tyte, 7– titted (9 -et); pa. pple. 4 tytted, 5 tyt, tytt, 6–7 tit, 7– titted. (Etymology obscure: goes with TIT sb.1; see Note below.]
trans. To pull forcibly, to tug; to snatch. Also intr. to pull at.
13[?]. Cursor M., 15303 (Cott.). His fote ful tite he til him tite [Gött. titt], Him schamed it was well sene. Ibid., 15837 (Gött.). And als þai fra þe erd him titt [Trin. pulde] His bodi was all stund.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 603. He tit the bow out of his hand.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 143. Ane maid a scrip, and tyt at his lang suorde; ‘Hald still thi hand,’ quod he, ‘and spek thi word.’
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., IX. (Wolf & Fox), xxiv. The wecht thairof neir tit my tuskis out.
1873. J. Ogg, Willie Waly, etc., 115. Hoo angry he was when ye tittet his tails.
1896. Barrie, Tommy, xxiv. 281. She realised that Miss Kitty was titting at her dress.
† b. To pull up, esp. in a halter; hence, to hang. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 983. About his nek þai knyt a rape, & tit hym vpe, & lefit hyme þare.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 212. Be he entrit, hys hed was in the swar; Tytt to the bauk, hangyt to ded rycht thar.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xvii. 28. Sum … nevir fra taking can hald thair hand, Quhill he be tit vp to ane tre.
1638. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl., III. (1818), 125. A piper being here committed, Guilty found, condemn’d and titted.
† c. To lay hold of forcibly, clutch, seize; ? to pull or drag about. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. vii. 1074. His stewart made on hym a schot And tyt [v.r. claucht] hym dourly be þe throte.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 837. The Golk … tit the Tuchet be the tope, ourtirvit his hed.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 123. He tyt the King be the nek. Ibid., 432. For to towsill me or tit me, thocht foull be my clais, Or I be dantit on sic wyse, my lyfe salbe lorne.
[Note. The sense agrees with that of TIGHT v.1, sense 1, but regular Sc. forms of that appear in 14th c. as ticht, tycht, and the disappearance of the ch would be abnormal. It is unlikely that OE. tyhtan, tihtan, should have become *titte in the language of the Danes in England, in accordance with the treatment of ht in ONorse itself.]
