Titanic, the
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Oscars in 1998. The two main characters are played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
**Titanic, the** a large British passenger ship which was considered impossible to sink, but which hit an ICEBERG in the Atlantic Ocean on its first journey in 1912, and as a result sank, killing more than 1500 of its passengers. There have been many books and films about this event. According to one story, the band continued playing while the ship was sinking. People sometimes use the phrase 'like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic' to describe the actions of a person or organization which makes small and useless changes to a situation, when the situation is already hopeless and certain to fail.
**ti-ta-ni-um** /taɪˈteɪniəm/ n [U] a silvery grey light strong metal that is a simple substance (ELEMENT), used especially for making compounds with other metals
**Ti-tans, the** /ˈtaɪtənz/ in Greek MYTHOLOGY, the first gods who ruled the universe, before ZEUS became the most powerful god. They were thought of as GIANTS (=like humans, but extremely large and tall) → see also TITAN
**tit-bit** /ˈtɪtˌbɪt/ especially BrE || tidbit AmE — n 1 a small piece of particularly nice food 2 [(of)] infml a small but interesting piece: a few titbits of gossip
**Titch-marsh, Al-an** /ˈtɪtʃmɑːʃmɑː, ˈælən/ (1949–) a popular British GARDENER and television presenter, best-known for presenting the programmes Ground Force and Gardeners' World. He has written a lot of popular gardening books, and has also written several novels.
**titch-y** /ˈtɪtʃi/ adj BrE infml, often derog extremely small
**tit-fer** /ˈtɪtfə/ n BrE old-fash slang a hat
**'tit for 'tat** n [U] infml something unpleasant done in return for something unpleasant one has suffered: I didn't invite her to my party because she didn't invite me to hers. It was just tit for tat.
**tithe** /taɪð/ n a tax of one tenth of one's yearly profit or income paid, especially in former times, for the support of the priest of the local church
**Ti-tian** /ˈtɪʃən/ (1490–1576) an Italian painter from Venice, greatly admired for his use of colour, whose work includes religious paintings and scenes from ancient Greek and Roman stories. His name is sometimes used to describe a brownish-orange colour that is typical of his paintings.
**Tit-i-ca-ca, Lake** /ˌtɪtɪˈkɑːkə/ the largest lake in South America, and the highest in the world, in the ANDES mountains between Bolivia and Peru
**tit-il-late** /ˈtɪtɪleɪt/ v [T] to excite pleasantly, especially sexually —ilation /ˌtɪtɪˈleɪʃən/ n [U]
**tit-i-vate, titti-** /ˈtɪtɪveɪt/ v [I;T] infml, often humor to make (especially oneself) pretty or tidy
**ti-tle** /ˈtaɪtl/ n 1 [C] a) a name given to a book, painting, play etc: The title of this play is 'Othello'. b) a particular book: This novel was one of last year's best-selling titles. 2 [C] a word or name, such as 'Mr', 'Lord', 'Lady', 'Doctor', 'General' etc, given to someone to be used before their name as a sign of rank, profession etc 3 [S;U (to)] tech the legal right to ownership or possession: Has he any title to this land? 4 [C] the position of unbeaten winner in certain sports competitions; CHAMPIONSHIP: They're fighting for the world title tonight. | a title fight → see also ENTITLE, SUBTITLES
**ti-tled** /ˈtaɪtld/ adj having a noble title, such as 'Lord'
**'title deed** n a piece of paper giving legal proof of a person's right of ownership of property
**ti-tle-hold-er** /ˈtaɪtlˌhəʊldə/ n 1 a person or team who is at present the unbeaten winner of a sports competition 2 the holder of a title deed
**'title page** n the page at the front of a book giving the title, writer's name etc
**'title role** n the chief part in a play, after which the play is named: He played the title role in 'Hamlet'. (=he played the part of Hamlet)
**'title track** n the song on a CD, CASSETTE etc that has the same name as the whole CD or cassette
**ti-tlist** /ˈtaɪtlɪst/ n AmE someone who has won an important sports competition
**tit-mouse** /ˈtɪtmaʊs/ n pl -mice /maɪs/ fml for TIT
**Ti-to, Mar-shal Jos-ip Broz** /ˈtiːtəʊ, ˈjɒsɪp ˈbrɒz||ˈjoʊsɪp ˈbrɔːz/ (1892–1980) a Yugoslav Communist politician, who was president of YUGOSLAVIA from 1953 until his death. Although Yugoslavia was a COMMUNIST state at this time, it was not influenced or controlled by the Soviet Union. Some people now say that Tito's strong leadership kept Yugoslavia together as one country, and since his death it has separated into smaller parts.
**tit-ter** /ˈtɪtə/ v [I] often derog to laugh quietly in a nervous or silly way → see LAUGH (USAGE) —titter n: She gave a nervous titter.
**tit-tle** /ˈtɪtl/ n [S usually in questions and negatives] old-fash infml BrE a very small amount; bit: There is not one jot or tittle of truth in these allegations. (=no truth at all)
**tittle-tat-tle** /ˈtɪtlˌtætl/ n [U] infml, usually derog talk about other people's lives, activities etc; GOSSIP —tittle-tattle v [I]
**tit-ty** /ˈtɪti/ n infml a TIT
**tit-u-lar** /ˈtɪtʃʊlər/ adj holding a title but not having the duties, responsibilities, or power of office: He is the titular head of government, but his chief minister holds all the real power.
**Ti-t