ditty
English
Etymology
From Middle English dite, ditee, from Old French ditie or dité, from ditier, from Latin dictāre (participle dictatus).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɪti/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Homophones: diddy (US)
- Rhymes: -ɪti
Noun
ditty (plural ditties)
- A short, simple verse or song.
- The Acme mattress ditty has been stuck in my head all day.
- [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316:
- religious, martial, or civil ditties
- 1636, G[eorge] S[andys], “(please specify the page)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David. And upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, London: [Andrew Hebb […]], OCLC 1203213428:
- And to the warbling lute soft ditties sing.
- A saying or utterance, especially one that is short and frequently repeated.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 50:
- O, too high ditty for my simple rime.
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Translations
a short verse or tune
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Verb
ditty (third-person singular simple present ditties, present participle dittying, simple past and past participle dittied)
- To sing; to warble a little tune.
- [1633], George Herbert, [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], OCLC 1048966979; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, OCLC 54151361:
- Beasts fain would sing; birds ditty to their notes.
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See also
- ditty bag, ditty box
- doggerel
- jingle