tittup

English

Alternative forms

• tit-tup, titup

Etymology

Probably imitative.

Noun

tittup (plural tittups)

1. A caper, or canter.

Verb

tittup (third-person singular simple present tittups, present participle tittupping or tittuping, simple past and past participle tittupped or tittuped)

1. (intransitive) To prance or frolic; of a horse, to canter easily.
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 186:

     I felt a fool and was much relieved when I saw the back of Mr Bellerby as he tit-tupped away to Cowslake Manor after pressing me to accept a cheroot about eight inches long out of a crocodile-skin case.

   • 1955, Patrick White, chapter 18, in The Tree of Man‎^[1], New York: Viking, page 333:

     After this he began to go outside [the pub], many coats and yellow, thin overcoats opening willingly for him to pass, until he was out, or his legs had carried him there. He was tittuping.

   • 1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King, New York: Berkley, Book 3, Chapter 25, p. 424,^[2]

     There were urbane abbots, titupping along on ambling palfreys, in furred hoods which were against the rules of their orders,

Derived terms

• tittuppy