Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ditty

Dit′ty, n.; pl. Ditties (#). [OE. dite, OF. ditié, fr. L. dictatum, p. p. neut. of dictare to say often, dictate, compose. See Dictate, v. t.] 1. A saying or utterance; especially, one that is short and frequently repeated; a theme.

O, too high ditty for my simple rhyme. Spenser.

2. A song; a lay; a little poem intended to be sung. "Religious, martial, or civil ditties." Milton.

And to the warbling lute soft ditties sing. Sandys.

Dit′ty, v. i. To sing; to warble a little tune.

Beasts fain would sing; birds ditty to their notes. Herbert.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.