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Tit for tat. In Western business cultures, a handshake when meeting someone is a signal of initial cooperation. Tit for tat is an English saying meaning "equivalent retaliation ". It developed from "tip for tap", first recorded in 1558. [1] It is also a highly effective strategy in game theory.
tit for tat: an equivalent given in return (as for an injury) : retaliation in kind.
In the 20th century, ‘tit for tat’ was the source of the Cockney rhyming slang ‘titfer’, meaning hat. The renowned lexicographer of slang Eric Partridge listed that in 1930, in Songs & Slang of the British Soldier: Tit-for, tit-for-tat, that is, hat. This usage was popularised by the British comedian Tommy Trinder who, although he was ...
TIT FOR TAT definition: 1. actions done intentionally to punish other people because they have done something unpleasant to…. Learn more.
Tit for tat definition: with an equivalent given in retaliation, as a blow for a blow, repartee, etc.. See examples of TIT FOR TAT used in a sentence.
tit for tat: 1 n an equivalent given in return Type of: getting even , paying back , return a reciprocal group action
The earliest known use of the phrase tit for tat is in the mid 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for tit for tat is from 1546, in the writing of John Heywood, playwright and epigrammatist. tit for tat is formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: tit n.3, for prep., English tat.
