titter

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈtɪtə(ɹ)/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɪtɚ/, [ˈtɪɾɚ] Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ) === Etymology 1 === First attested in the 1610s. Probably from Middle English *titeren, *titren (attested in Middle English titering (“hesitation, vacillation”)), probably a frequentative of Middle English titten (“to waver”), related to Old Norse titra (“to shake, shiver, quiver”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to snicker”). ==== Verb ==== titter (third-person singular simple present titters, present participle tittering, simple past and past participle tittered) To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement. 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn Part First: The Sicilian's Tale - King Robert of Sicily A group of tittering pages ran before. (obsolete) To teeter; to seesaw. ===== Synonyms ===== snicker; see also Thesaurus:laugh ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== titter (plural titters) A nervous or somewhat repressed giggle. April 21, 1811, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk There was a titter of […] delight on his countenance. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === tit +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== titter (plural titters) (slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast. For more quotations using this term, see Citations:titter. ===== Synonyms ===== (a woman's breast): See also Thesaurus:breasts. === References ===