Tityre-tu

noun

A member of a gang of criminal youths that originated in the early 1620s.

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Meanings

nounTityre-tu (plural Tityre-tus)

plural Tityre-tus

  1. historicalin pluralA member of a gang of criminal youths that originated in the early 1620s.

Origin

An allusion to the first line in Virgil's First Eclogue: "Tityre tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi" ("Tityrus, thou reclining beneath the shelter of the spreading beech tree").

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Tityre-tu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tityre-tu

MLA

“Tityre-tu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tityre-tu. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tityre-tu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tityre-tu.

Source: Tityre-tu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.