Forms: 1 titul; 4 tytel, -e, 4–5 titel, (5 -ell), tityll, 4–6 titil, -ill, (4 titille), 4–7 tytle, 5 titul, -lle, (tetle), 5–6 tytill, -e, 5–7 tytyl, -el(l, ty-, titile, (6 tetel), 8 titule, 4– title; also 6 tyttel, -yll. [ME. a. OF. title (12th c. in Godef., Compl.):—L. titulus superscription, title; in mod.F. titre. OE. titul was directly from L., as is the later by-form titule.
The i in OE. and early ME. was prob. short, after L.: see also TITTLE.]
† 1. An inscription placed on or over an object, giving its name or describing it; a legend; sometimes, a placard hung up in a theater giving the name of the piece, etc. Obs.
In earliest use repr. L. titulus, the inscription on the Cross.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xv. 26. & wæs titul (vel tacon vel merca) intinges his on awritten cynig iudea.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16685. Abouen his hefd,… A bord was festen plate, Þar-on was þe titel [Laud tytle] writen, Thoru þe rede o sir pilate.
1382. Wyclif, Mark xv. 26. And the title of his cause was writun, Jhesus of Nazareth, kyng of Jewis.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 5071. Þis titill was of twa tongis tane out & grauen.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xix. 19. An aulter … with this title ther by: Vnto the Lorde.
1592. Kyd, Sp. Trag., IV. iii. Hang up the Title: Our scene is Rhodes.
1611. Bible, John xix. 20. This title then read many of the Iewes:… and it was written in Hebrewe, and Greeke, and Latine.
1645. Evelyn, Diary, 23 Jan. On the bases of one of whose columns is this odd title: Fl. Eugenius Asellus C.C. Præf. Urbis V.S.I. reparavit.
† b. An inscribed pillar, column, tombstone, or the like. (A literalism of transl.) Obs. rare.
1388. Wyclif, Gen. xxxv. 14. Iacob reiside a title [gloss. ether memorial] of stoonys [1382 a stonen signe of worship], in the place where ynne God spak to hymn. Ibid., 20. Iacob bildide a title [v.r. memorial; 1382 a signe of preysing] on the sepulcre of hir.
1609. Bible (Douay), ibid.
2. The descriptive heading of each section or subdivision of a book (now only in law-books); the formal heading of a legal document; hence, † a part or division of a book, or of a subject (obs.).
13[?]. Cursor M., 29530 (Cott.). Þir pointes of cursing haf i … scortly samen laid, And þar-for sett in titles sere Þat þou may lightloker þam here.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 329. For to come to cleer and ful knowleche of þat lond, þese tyteles þat folweþ oponeþ þe way…. De situ Hiberniæ locali…. De ejus quanto et quali [etc.].
1494. Fabyan, Chron., IV. lxviii. 46. In the firste Chapitre of the .ix. tytle of his Werke called Summa Antonini.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xl. (1887), 228. The fifth title of the fifth booke, De Magistris.
1714. Fr. Bk. of Rates, 412. His Majesty judged it proper to comprehend all the said Regulations and the Merchandizes therein expressed under one Title.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xvii. II. 62, note. The first twenty-eight titles of the eleventh book of the Theodosian Code are filled with the circumstantial regulations on the important subject of tributes.
1847. Wharton, Law Lex., Title, a general head, comprising particulars, as in a book.
† b. app. Subject, matter. Obs.
13[?]. Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LXXXI. 97/18. Whon Petur saih þat disciple Speke to Ihesu of þat title.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 8. Henry of Huntyngton testimons þis title. Þe kyngdom of Westsex, he sais, it was not litelle.
† c. transf. A document; a writing, a letter. Obs.
c. 1330. [see 7 d].
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1044. Þare tuke he tribute þat tyme þe titill recordis. Ibid., 3566. His tulkis of þis titill quen þai þe tenour herd, Þan ware þai sory of þa sawes.
3. The name of a book, a poem, or other (written) composition; an inscription at the beginning of a book, describing or indicating its subject, contents, or nature, and usually also giving the name of the author, compiler, or editor, the name of the publisher, and the place and date of publication; also = TITLE-PAGE. Also, the designation of a picture or statue.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, cxix. 1. Þe tityll of þese fyfeten psalmys is sange of degres.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 163. Go litel bille withoute title or date.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 29. He bad that the titles of the Bokes should be read and shewed.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxiii. 200. In titles of Books, the subject is marked, as often as the writer.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 137. Bad Books, which are more beholden for their Sale to the Booksellers than to the Author, by reason the first had a better Knack at tossing up a Title.
1863. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 194. I have found a first-rate title for your book.
1891. C. Creighton, Epidemics in Brit., I. Pref. 5. The title and contents-table of this volume will show sufficiently its scope.
b. Bookbinding. The label or panel on the back of a book giving a brief title (binder’s title).
1891. in Cent. Dict.
4. A descriptive or distinctive appellation; a name, denomination, style.
c. 1383. in Eng. Hist. Rev., Oct. (1911), 741. Clerkis moun haue temporal godis bi title of almese.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxci. 227. Thus in euery parte was the realme of Fraunce warredde in the tytell of the kynge of Nauer.
1549. Latimer, 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 76. He was taken and naped in the head wyth the title of an heretique.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 61 b. Ye are farre vnworthy of the name of Christians. Whiche tytle … you doe vsurpe to your selues.
1621. Sir G. Chaworth, in Kempe, Losely MSS. (1836), 444. I will … beseech you to accept well of my service, under ye titles of faythfull and obedyent.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, II. 59. Some [are] dignified with the venerable titule of physician.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), II. VII. iii. 205. To believe this bird to be the same with that described by Wicquefort, under the title of the Alcatraz.
1828. A. Jolly, Sunday Serv., 75. This bears the title of Bethphany, or the manifestation in the house.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Agam., 946, note. But the title Ζεὐς Τελειος, the god of marriage…, was perhaps a distinct attribute.
5. An appellation attaching to an individual or family in virtue of rank, function, office, or attainment, or the possession of or association with certain lands, etc.; esp. an appellation of honor pertaining to a person of high rank; also transf. (colloq.) a person of title (quot. 1900).
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 43. Every pillour decked was full deare With crownes, and Diademes, and titles vaine, Which mortall Princes wore.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 570. From the death of this young Earle of Warwicke this title lay asleepe.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. i. 140. I dare not make my selfe so guiltie, To giue vp willingly that Noble Title Your Master wed me to.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 73, ¶ 9. A gay young Gentleman, who has lately succeeded to a Title and an Estate.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., xxvii. II. 132. Lord Herbert obtained the title of Earl of Worcester.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, vii. Alexander Fraser Tytler, afterwards a Judge of the Court of Session by the title of Lord Woodhouselee.
1900. Howells, in Scribner’s Mag., Sept., 375/2. He [Lowell] was sorry that he could not have me meet some titles who … found pleasure in my books.
6. That which justifies or substantiates a claim; a ground of right; hence, an alleged or recognized right. Const. with inf., or to, in, of the thing claimed.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20874 (Cott.). His nam es giuen til him o ded, And titel [Trin. titul] of his might o mede.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 291. We haue no trewe title to hem for þorwgh tresoun were þei dampned.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 973. Oure comynge hider,… Had no grounde founded on resoun Nor cause roted on no titel of riȝt.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), III. iii. 144. Vagabondes,… the whiche haue no good tytle for to begge.
1625. Burges, Pers. Tithes, 36. Hee … would manifestly declare … his iust Title to Bedlam.
1718. Free-thinker, No 12, ¶ 7. He can have no farther Title to the Esteem of his Fellow-Subjects.
1822. Scott, Nigel, Introd. Epist. The … evidence … brought forward to prove Sir Philip Francis’s title to the Letters of Junius, seemed at first irrefragable. Ibid. (1827), Surg. Dau., i. All farther title of interference seemed now ended.
1868. Gladstone, Juv. Mundi, Pref. (1869), 11. I have not the same title to expect obedience.
7. spec. Law. Legal right to the possession of property (esp. real property); the evidence of such right; title-deeds.
[1292. Britton, II. xvi. Title de fraunc tenement pora hom aver en plusours maneres.]
c. 1420. Lydg., Siege Thebes, 2005. I shal lette hym… That he shal not be title of no bond, Reioysse in Thebes half a foot of londe.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxii. 347. What title has þou þer-to? is it þyne awne free?
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., ix. (1885), 130. Off mariages, purchasses, and oþer titles.
1481. Cov. Leet Bk., 490. The title to be examyned be ij persones there chosen afore þe lordez.
1552. Huloet, Tytle of the eldest chyld in enheritaunce, primogenia.
1583. Exch. Rolls Scot., XXI. 575. Andro Murray … demittit and overgaif his heretable rycht and titill of the kyngis park … in the kyngis majesties favouris.
1628. Coke, On Litt., I. 345 b. Euery right is a title, but euery title is not such a right for which an action lieth.
1672. Cowell’s Interpr., Title of Entry, is, when one is seised of Land in Fee, makes a Feoffment thereof on condition, and the condition is broken; after which the Feoffor hath title to enter into the Land, and may do so at his pleasure.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. iii. 184. Yet while I assert an hereditary, I by no means intend a jure divino title to the throne.
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), II. 1011. Properly speaking the Vendor’s title merely consists of the fact by which his right was acquired.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-bk. Prop. Law, v. 29. Where difficulties arise in making out a good title, you should not take possession of the estate until every obstacle is removed.
† b. In title, of a benefice: (Held) as one’s proper cure; opposed to in commendam (see COMMENDAM). Obs.
1579. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 177. Upoun the vacance of ony prelacie the kirkis thairof salbe disponit to qualifiit ministeris in titill.
1658. Bramhall, Consecr. Bps., viii. 186. It may be objected, that he held all these Bishopricks as a Commendatory, not in Title.
† c. An assertion of right; a claim. Obs.
1534. Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, I. (1540), 17. It may be vnderstande that no warre is iust, except that which after iust tylle demaunded is done, or els it be denounced or proclaymed before.
1685. Wood, Life, 12 Aug. (O.H.S.), III. 157. The King of England hath now an army … raised upon defeat of Monmouth, under pretence to keep him in safety against false titles and fanaticks.
1701. Swift, Contests Nobles & Com., Wks. 1755, II. I. 40. An eagerness after employments in the state was looked upon by wise men, as the worst title a man could set up.
† d. A title-deed. Obs. rare.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 248. Þei brouht … Þe olde chartres and titles, þat wer in Abbays hand.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 140/1. If that man should make a stewes of that house … and shuld go and make away the titles and writings to depriue the maister of his house.
8. Eccl. A certificate of presentment to a benefice, or a guarantee of support, required (in ordinary cases) by the bishop from a candidate for ordination.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 281–3. Þe title þat [ye] take ordres by telleth ȝe ben auaunced;… For he þat toke ȝow ȝowre tytle shuld take ȝow ȝowre wages.
1530. Knaresborough Wills (Surtees), I. 26. He shall have his tytle and singynge geyr boughte at the coste of my sayd wyeffe.
1588. J. Udall, Demonstr. Discipl. (Arb.), 24. The ordination that is made without a title, let it be void.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxx. § 9. Euery man lawfully ordained must bring a Bow which hath two strings, a Title of present Right, and another to prouide for future possibilitie or chance.
1720. White, Monit. Clergy Peterbo., I. 16. If you retain any Curate, to whom you did not give a Title for Orders.
1845. Stephen, Comm. Laws Eng. (1874), II. 661. By the canon law no person shall be admitted into holy orders without a title.
1860. J. Gardner, Faiths World, s.v., If a bishop ordain any one without sufficient title, he must keep and maintain the person whom he so ordains with all things necessary until he can prefer him to some ecclesiastical living.
9. Eccl. Each of the principal or parish churches in Rome, the incumbents of which are cardinal priests; a cardinal church (CARDINAL a. 6).
In L. titulus. Bingham (Antiq., VII. i. 10) explains the name from the fact that the churches gave a ‘title of cure or denomination’ to the presbyters who were set over them. See Catholic Dict., s.v.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 111. Guale, By the mercy of god, title of Seynte Marteyne preste cardinall, popis legat.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxx. § 9. The Fathers at the first named oratories and houses of prayer titles.
1642. Jer. Taylor, Episc., § 43. [He] appointed twenty-five titles or parishes.
1706. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 16th C., II. v. 95. Formerly the Sacraments were administred only in these Titles (i. e. Churches so called) and those that presided in them were called Cardinals (if we believe Paurinius) because they were the chief and the principal of those that resided upon these Titles.
1833. Waddington, Hist. Ch., xxiii. 509. Even the Titles of the Cardinals, abandoned by those who derived their dignities from them, were left without roof, or gates, or walls.
1854. Cdl. Wiseman, Fabiola (1855), 186. ‘He distributed the titles’; that is, he divided Rome into parishes, to the churches of which he gave the name of ‘title.’
10. Assaying, etc. The expression in carats of the degree of purity of gold (= F. titre).
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Receipts, Ser. I. 364/1. Jewellers solder with gold of a lower title than the article to be soldered.
1879. F. Vors, Bibelots & Curios, 58. Carat … is only an imaginary weight; the whole mass is divided into twenty-four equal parts, and as many as there are of these that are of pure gold constitute the title of the alloy.
11. attrib. and Comb., as title-leaf, -plate, -scroll, -trouble; title-mad adj.; obj. and obj. gen., as title-holder, -hunter, -hunting sb. and adj., -licenser, -seeker, -sifter; title-banner, a banner on which a title is inscribed; title-essay, an essay, usually the first in a volume, giving name to the whole collection; so title-poem, title-story; title letter, type, type of a size and kind used in printing titles; title-part, -rôle, the part in a play, etc., from which the title of the piece is taken; title-sheet, the first sheet of a book, one page of which bears the title. See also TITLE-DEED, -PAGE.
1880. J. Ross, Hist. Corea, x. 332. The bearer of the *Title-banner advances forward one step.
1902. Daily Chron., 7 Feb., 3/4. ‘Love’s Cradle, and Other Papers.’ The *title-essay deals with the age of the troubadours.
1904. Daily News, 27 May, 12. Scotland Yard … has got its eye on some of the bogus *title-holders.
1797. Mrs. M. Robinson, Walsingham, II. 203. She [Mrs. Woodford] was a perpetual *title-hunter.
1893. Goldw. Smith, Ess. Quest. Day, 156. Anybody can guess what titles and *title-hunting in colonial society must beget.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 60. Yea, this mans brow, like to a *Title-leafe, Fore-tels the Nature of a Tragicke Volume.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 225. To those … we will give the name of *Title Letters; considering that [they] … are used in Titles of Books. Ibid., 279. As for Four Lines Pica, and Five Lines Pica, they best become the name of Title Letters.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 26. The gentleman might be advanced to the office or *title-licenser.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 237. The *title-mad and pocket-filled Jewesses.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 107. The *title-plate to a history of Oxford designed by him, and engraved by White in 1674.
1893. Dict. Nat. Biog., XXXIII. 440. The *title-poem … is followed by smaller pieces.
1886. Boston (Mass.) Globe, 15 Aug. A grand production of ‘The Gladiator,’ with that talented young tragedian Robert L. Downing in the heroic *title role.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 30 July, 10/1. Mr. Chatterton revived the play [Byron’s ‘Manfred’] (in 1863) with Phelps in the title-rôle.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 656. Heaps of living gold that daily grow, And *title-scrolls and gorgeous heraldries.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 392. The Signature of the *Title-sheet, viz. great A;… we put Little a to the first sheet after the Title sheet.
1615. J. Stephens, Ess. & Charac., Informer. Let him be a *tytle-sifter and he will examine lands as if they had committed high treason.
1887. Lit. World, 23 July, 229/2. The *title-story, ‘Ivan Ilyitch,’ alone could be pronounced repulsive.
a. 1619. Fletcher, Wit without M., I. i. How bravely now I live,… how free from *title-troubles!
