Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A simple song.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A song, or poem intended to be sung, usually short and simple in form, and set to a simple melody; any short simple song. Originally applied to any short poetical composition (lyric or ballad) intended to be sung, the word came to be restricted chiefly to songs of simple rustic character, being often used of the songs of birds.
- n. The words of a song, as opposed to the tune or music.
- n. A refrain; a saying often repeated.
- n. Clamor; cry; noise.
- To sing a ditty; warble a tune.
- To sing.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A saying or utterance; especially, one that is short and frequently repeated; a theme.
- n. A song; a lay; a little poem intended to be sung.
- v. To sing; to warble a little tune.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a short simple song (or the words of a poem intended to be sung)
Etymologies
- From Old French ditie or dité, from ditier, from Latin dictāre (participle dictatus). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dictātum, thing dictated, from neuter past participle of dictāre, to dictate, frequentative of dīcere, to say; see deik- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And who can forget this little ditty from the Weinstein campaign, which I would like to recommend be used in interrogation rooms across the country.”
The Huffington Post: Keli Goff: Is 2010 Officially the Worst Year for Political Ads?
“Apparently, a little ditty from the second act called "Be Kind to Your Parents" was a break-out popular hit in 1954.”
“One of my favorites is this ditty from a flight attendant:”
“Zimmer: And then the other thing was I didn't want to do another summer Hollywood blockbuster, so I thought to be very provocative in the music, which I think that little Joker ditty is certainly not something you expect in — it's not the first thing that you'd think of when you think Hollywood blockbuster.”
Interview: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard on The Dark Knight's Score « FirstShowing.net
“This little ditty is for Bush and (hopefully very soon) Cheney: When a Republican is caught red-handed breaking the law and is nabbed by the feet he†™ ll grope at anything, at any lie, as he is dragged up the temple steps to face justice.”
Think Progress » Congress Explicitly Said War Resolution Did Not Expand Executive Power
“Catharine O'Hara) and a bouncy ditty from the animated Triplets of”
“Such as haue not premonition hereof, and consideration of the causes alledged, would peraduenture reproue and disgrace euery _Romance_, or short historicall ditty for that they be not written in long meeters or verses _Alexandrins_, according to the nature & stile of large histories, wherin they should do wrong for they be sundry formes of poems and not all one.”
“While a ditty is the tribute to the joy that gives it birth,”
“A slender little treble was singing it over and over again in childish sort, with so little appreciation of the meaning of the words that the oddity of the ditty was the first thing to attract my attention to it.”
“Strangely enough, his ditty was a popular Spanish refrain of some matador's aristocratic inamorata: --”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ditty’.
-
Unknown
coalition, cabinet, tweet, defuse, steep, ancestral, mindset, breach, infraction, egregious, curb, backbite and 282 more...
-
gangster
random gangster lingo and street slang with extra absurdities.
( open list, randomness )
related:
http://www....swagga, chinga, slams, blitzy, earf, manor, code name, rekkid, weight, feather, kong, swisher and 323 more...
-
Words that sound dirty but aren't.
When you want to be pedantic AND childish.
titular, masticate, condiment, titmouse, penal, formication, social intercourse, assassination, cacophony, lucubrate, rectify, banal and 131 more...
-
Y
What a -Y does to an otherwise common, dull word
zany, waxy, wavy, arty, chewy, bony, boxy, cozy, nosy, foxy, wiry, junky and 321 more...
-
dickinsonian
psalteries, enamoring, estates, whim, calyx, hoisted, nought, pentateuchal, retina, obviated, revelation, stalactite and 193 more...
-
generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
-
Stalking Darkness
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Stalking Darkness.
inquest, halyard, catamount, occlude, founder, more, grouse, grapple, water butt, antepenultimate, palimpsest, hob and 196 more...
-
Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
-
GRE List
anthem, ablution, apocrypha, augur, cardinal, cathedral, chant, chapel, cloister, conformist, cult, devout and 145 more...
-
Gil Blas
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
reck, durance, rhodomontade, hangdog, trap, lustre, pin, boggle, dandle, birthday suit, colic, gripes and 238 more...
-
Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
-
random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
-
I Like the Sound of That
Cool words
apoplexy, theriomorphic, therianthropic, folksonomy, hoochie coochie, noxzema, steeplechase, dumbwaiter, faute de mieux, cathode, okeydokey, protocarnivorous and 90 more...
-
Clever and funny words
droll, huzzah, skedaddle, vamoose, rumpus, touche, clusterfuck, twaddle, tomfoolery, shindig, fandango, scallywag and 21 more...
-
Music
sackbut, quaternion, carillon, luthier, pizzicato, purfling, jig, ditty, tritone, blue note, ostinato, mellifluent and 13 more...
-
D
dew, driftwood, dusty, doxy, droplet, doe, dimday, dwell, damsel, delicate, dapple, darling and 42 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ditty.
PossibleUnderscore No no, it's ok. My mistake, you're right. Thanks. Jul 18, 2009
thesaurosie PossibleUnderscore, are you sure you're not thinking of 'ditzy'? I apologise if I'm wrong and being condescending. Jul 18, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Ditty is also used to describe frivilous people. I think. Jul 18, 2009
yarb One day after dinner I went into his room, just as he was tuning his guitar. To hear him more at my ease, I sat down on the only stool; while he, reclining on his bed, played a pathetic air, and sang to it a ditty, expressing the despair of a lover and the cruelty of his mistress.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 9 ch. 5 Oct 7, 2008