Title
an appellation; a name. Also, an appellation of dignity, distinction, or pre-eminence given to persons; as, titles of honor, which are words or phrases belonging to certain persons as their right in consequence of certain dignities being inherent in them or conferred on them; as, emperor, king, czar, prince, etc. In the United States there are no titles of distinction save those of professional men, which are conferred by authorized institutions as rewards for distinguished merit. Titles of nobility, conferred by any foreign power on any officer or employé of the United States government, are prohibited by the Constitution, and any foreigner who may hold a title of nobility must, on becoming a citizen of TITLE the United States, renounce formally all pretensions to such distinction. The President, governors of States, and ministers of foreign nations are addressed, and spoken of, as your or his "Excellency," save in the case of speaking to the President, who should be addressed as "Mr. President." The Vice-President, members of the Cabinet and members of Congress, heads of departments, assistant secretaries, comptrollers and auditors of Treasury, clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives, State Senators, law judges, mayors of cities, etc., are entitled "Honorable" and formally addressed as "Your Honor."
The five orders of nobility in England are distinguished by the titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. The dignity of baronet is distinguished by that word placed after the name and surname of the holder of the dignity, and also by the title of Sir prefixed to the name. This title, like that of the peers, is hereditary. The dignity of knighthood, which is not hereditary, is distinguished by the title of Sir prefixed to the name and surname of the holder. An archbishop is styled His Grace the Lord Archbishop of ; a bishop, the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of - Members of the Privy Council are entitled to be styled Right Honorable. Certain municipal offices have also titles attached to them; as, The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor of London, The Right Honorable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, etc. Also the inscription in the beginning of a book, containing the subject the author, and publisher, date, etc.; a of the work, and usually the names of title page. Or a particular section or division of a subject, as of a law, a book, or the like; especially a section or chapter of a law book.
Ecclesiology and Church history: (1) A condition precedent to, or a claim in favor of, ordination, such as a sphere of parochial or other spiritual work, always required by a bishop, except in certain specified cases, which are specified in Canon 33 of the Anglican Church. In the Roman Church the title formerly required from every ordinand was that of a benefice (titulus beneficii), i. e., he was bound to show that he had been nominated to a benefice whose revenues were sufficient for his decent maintenance. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) added two other titles (1) of patrimony (titulus patrimonii), where the ordinand had sufficient private property to maintain him respectably, and (2) of pension (titulus pensionis), where some solvent person or persons bound themselves to provide for the cleric about to be or- TITLE dained. The vow of evangelical poverty (titulus paupertatis) in a religious order is a valid title; and the students of Propaganda and certain other colleges, and candidates for holy orders in missionary countries, have a title from the mission from which they are ordained or the seminary in which they were educated (titulus missionis vel seminarii). The acceptance of this last title imposes on the bishop the responsibility of providing for the support of the ordained, should he become incapable of discharging his functions. (2) A titular church, or the district or parish assigned to it among English and Roman Catholic Churches.
TITMOUSE (plural, TITMICE), in ornithology, a popular name for any individual of the sub-family Parinæ. They are remarkable for the boldly defined color of their plumage and their quick, irregular movements, running rapidly along branches in quest of insects, and often clinging thereto with their back downward. They feed not only on insects, but on grain and seeds, and not infrequently kill young and sickly birds with strokes of their stout, strong bill.
They are very pugnacious, and the hens show great courage in defense of their nests. The young are fed chiefly on caterpillars, and a pair of blue tits have been observed to carry a caterpillar to their nest, on an average, every two minutes, during the greater part of the day, so that these birds must be extremely serviceable in preventing the increase of noxious insects. The chickadee, so named from its note, is the blackcap titmouse (Parus atricapillus), found chiefly in the North American continent. Seven species are well known in Europe; but one, the crested titmouse (Parus cristatus), s), is only an accidental visitor. The great titmouse (P. major) is about six inches long; head and throat black, cheeks white, back, breast, and sides yellowish, wings and tail grayish. The blue titmouse (P. cæruleus), which is so called from the bluish tinge in its plumage, and the coal titmouse (P. ater), named from its black head and neck, are the commonest British species; the others are the long tailed titmouse (Acredula caudata, Parus caudatus), the marsh titmouse (P. palustris), and the bearded titmouse (Panurus biarmicus), or reedling.