ti|tle

ti|tle «TY tuhl», noun, adjective, verb, -tled, -tling.

–n.

1. a) the name of a book, poem, play, picture, song, or the like: »

“Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is the title of a famous story for little children.

SYNONYM(S): See syn. under name. (Cf. ↑name) b) a printing of this at the beginning of a book. c) = title page. (Cf. ↑title page) d) a descriptive heading or caption, as of a chapter or section of a book. e) any of the credits, lines of dialogue, or other printed material appearing on the screen in a motion picture or television program.

2. a name showing rank, occupation, or condition in life. King, duke, lord, countess, captain, doctor, professor, Madame, and Miss are titles.

3. any descriptive or distinctive name: »

Horatio in Shakespeare's Hamlet deserved the title of a true friend.

4. a first-place position; championship: »

He won the heavyweight title.

5. a) a legal right to the possession of property. b) the legal evidence, especially a document, showing such a right. When a house is sold, the seller gives title to the buyer. c) all of the things that make up legal ownership. d) a subdivision of a statute or law book. e) the descriptive or formal heading of a legal document, statute, or the like. f) the heading that names the cause of or right to the action.

6. a recognized right; claim: »

What title does he have to my gratitude?

7. Ecclesiastical. a) evidence of an assured benefice, or of a definite source of income, required by a bishop before he ordains a candidate. b) any one of the principal Roman Catholic churches of Rome whose incumbents are cardinals.

8. Obsolete. a) an inscription placed on or over an object, giving its name or describing it. b) a placard hung up in a theater giving the name of the piece and other information.

–adj.

1. of or for a title: »

a title search.

2. (of an essay, poem, story, or the like) giving name to the whole collection or book: »

The name of this book of poems is “Crossroads;” the title poem is the first poem in the volume.

3. of a size or kind used in printing titles: »

a title letter or type.

–v.t.

1. to call by a title; term.

2. to furnish with a title; name; entitle.

╂[< Old French title, learned borrowing from Latin titulus inscription (in Late Latin, title of a book). See etym. of doublets tilde (Cf. ↑tilde), titer (Cf. ↑titer), tittle. (Cf. ↑tittle)]

Usage titles. In formal usage the titles of books, long poems, plays published as separate volumes, and the names of magazines and newspapers are underlined or, in print, appear in italics. Capitals are used for the first and last words, for all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and for prepositions of more than five letters: »

Smarter and Smoother; Marching On; Life Behind Bars; Romeo and Juliet; National Geographic Magazine.

Titles of short stories, short poems, songs, essays, and magazine articles are usually put in quotation marks: “My Old Kentucky Home”; “Atomic Power in Tomorrow's World.”