Titmouse

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Titmouse \Tit"mouse`\, n.; pl. {Titmice}. [OE. titemose,
     titmase; tit small, or a small bird + AS. m[=a]se a kind of
     small bird; akin to D. mees a titmouse, G. meise, OHG. meisa,
     Icel. meisingr. The English form has been influenced by the
     unrelated word mouse. Cf. {Tit} a small bird.] (Zool.)
     Any one of numerous species of small insectivorous singing


     birds belonging to {Parus} and allied genera; -- called also
     {tit}, and {tomtit}.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The blue titmouse ({Parus coeruleus}), the marsh
           titmouse ({Parus palustris}), the crested titmouse
           ({Parus cristatus}), the great titmouse ({Parus
           major}), and the long tailed titmouse ({Aegithalos
           caudatus}), are the best-known European species. See
           {Chickadee}.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  titmouse
       n : small insectivorous birds [syn: {tit}]
       [also: {titmice} (pl)]