# titling

Pronunciation: say "TY-tling" /ˈtaɪtl̩ɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle and gerund of title. — present participle and gerund of title
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of title. Use it for the '-ing' form, as when something is being given a title.
   - _The editor was titling each section before sending the draft to print._
   - _Titling a poem can be harder than writing it._

## Noun

2. Assigning a title to something, or applying a book's title to its spine in printed or stamped lettering.
   - Simple: Giving something a title, or printing the title onto the back of a book.
   - _The titling of each volume followed a strict house style._
   - _The publisher charged extra for the gold titling on the spine._
3. A legal right to a property; the holding of a title to it.
   - Simple: The legal right to own a piece of property.
   - _Disputes over the titling delayed the sale for months._
   - _Proper titling ensures the new owner can defend the claim in court._
4. A small brown songbird of European hedgerows, also called the hedge sparrow or dunnock (Prunella modularis). (pronounced: say "TIT-ling" /ˈtɪtlɪŋ/)
   - Simple: A small brown and gray songbird that lives in hedges.
   - _A titling slipped through the hedge, flicking its wings as it went._
   - _Each spring a pair of titlings nested in the garden hedge._
5. A small brown songbird of open grassland and moorland, the meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis). (pronounced: say "TIT-ling" /ˈtɪtlɪŋ/)
   - Simple: A small brown songbird that lives in open fields and grassland.
   - _A titling sang high above the moor before parachuting down to the grass._
   - _Several titlings flushed from the rough pasture as we walked._

## Noun

6. Stockfish; unsalted fish, especially cod, cured by drying in the open cold air. *(obsolete)* (pronounced: say "TIT-ling" /ˈtɪtlɪŋ/)
   - Simple: Dried fish, usually cod, hardened in cold air without salt.
   - _Sailors lived on titling and hard biscuit through the long winter voyage._
   - _The market stalls were hung with stiff slabs of titling._

## Origin

The origin is uncertain. On the surface it looks like 'tit' (a small bird) plus the suffix '-ling' (small), and it is attested from the 16th century. It probably comes from Icelandic 'titlingr' ('tit sparrow') and Old Norse 'titlingr' ('sparrow'), and may be compared with Old Norse 'tittr' ('titmouse') and Middle English 'titmose' ('titmouse').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/titling (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).