Chapter Tike to Tirled of T by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Tipstaff A constable so called because he carried a staff tipped with a bull's horn. In the documents of Edward III. allusion is often made to his staff. (See Rymer's F&ocligdera.)

Tiptoe of Expectation (On the). All agog with curiosity. I am like one standing on tiptoe to see over the shoulders of a crowd.

Tirer une Dent To draw a man's tooth, or extort money from him. The allusion is to the tale told by Holinshed of King John, who extorted 10,000 marks from a Jew living at Bristol by extracting a tooth daily till he consented to provide the money. For seven successive days a tooth was taken, and then the Jew gave in.

Tiresias Blind as Tiresias. Tiresias the Theban by accident saw Athena bathing, and the goddess struck him with blindness by splashing water in his face. She afterwards repented doing so, and, as she could not restore his sight, conferred on him the power of soothsaying, and gave him a staff with which he could walk as safely as if he had his sight. He found death at last by drinking from the well of Tilphosa.

“Juno the truth of what was said denied,
Tiresias, therefore, must the cause decide.”
Addison: Transformation of Tiresias.

Tiring Irons Iron rings to be put on or taken off a ring as a puzzle. Light-foot calls them “tiring irons never to be untied.”

Tirled He tirlëd at the pin. He twiddled or rattled with the latch before opening the door. Guillaume di Lorris, in his Romance of the Rose (thirteenth century), says, “When persons visit a friend they ought not to bounce all at once into the room, but should announce their approach by a slight cough, or few words spoken in the hall, or a slight shuffling of their feet, so as not to take their friends unawares.” The pin is the door-latch, and before a visitor entered a room it was, in Scotland, thought good manners to fumble at the latch to give notice of your intention to enter. (Tirl is the Anglo-Saxon Thwer-an, to turn, Dutch dwarlen, our twirl, etc., or Danish trille, German triller, Welsh treillio; our trill, to rattle or roll.)

“Right quick he mounted up the stair,
And tirled at the pin.”
Charlie is my Darling.