The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Title \Ti"tle\ (t[imac]"t'l), n. [OF. title, F. titre, L.
   titulus an inscription, label, title, sign, token. Cf.
   Tilde, Titrate, Titular.]
   1. An inscription put over or upon anything as a name by
      which it is known.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The inscription in the beginning of a book, usually
      containing the subject of the work, the author's and
      publisher's names, the date, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Bookbindng) The panel for the name, between the bands of
      the back of a book.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A section or division of a subject, as of a law, a book,
      specif. (Roman & Canon Laws), a chapter or division of a
      law book.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. An appellation of dignity, distinction, or preeminence
      (hereditary or acquired), given to persons, as duke
      marquis, honorable, esquire, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            With his former title greet Macbeth.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A name; an appellation; a designation.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. (Law)
      (a) That which constitutes a just cause of exclusive
          possession; that which is the foundation of ownership
          of property, real or personal; a right; as, a good
          title to an estate, or an imperfect title.
      (b) The instrument which is evidence of a right.
      (c) (Canon Law) That by which a beneficiary holds a
          benefice.
          [1913 Webster]

   8. (Anc. Church Records) A church to which a priest was
      ordained, and where he was to reside.
      [1913 Webster]

   Title deeds (Law), the muniments or evidences of ownership;
      as, the title deeds to an estate.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Epithet; name; appellation; denomination. See epithet,
        and Name.
        [1913 Webster]
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Title \Ti"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Titled; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Titling.] [Cf. L. titulare, F. titrer. See Title, n.]
   To call by a title; to name; to entitle.
   [1913 Webster]

         Hadrian, having quieted the island, took it for honor
         to be titled on his coin, "The Restorer of Britain."
                                                  --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cloud \Cloud\ (kloud), n. [Prob. fr. AS. cl[=u]d a rock or
   hillock, the application arising from the frequent
   resemblance of clouds to rocks or hillocks in the sky or
   air.]
   1. A collection of visible vapor, or watery particles,
      suspended in the upper atmosphere.
      [1913 Webster]

            I do set my bow in the cloud.         --Gen. ix. 13.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: A classification of clouds according to their chief
         forms was first proposed by the meteorologist Howard,
         and this is still substantially employed. The following
         varieties and subvarieties are recognized:
      (a) Cirrus. This is the most elevated of all the forms
          of clouds; is thin, long-drawn, sometimes looking like
          carded wool or hair, sometimes like a brush or room,
          sometimes in curl-like or fleecelike patches. It is
          the cat's-tail of the sailor, and the mare's-tail of
          the landsman.
      (b) Cumulus. This form appears in large masses of a
          hemispherical form, or nearly so, above, but flat
          below, one often piled above another, forming great
          clouds, common in the summer, and presenting the
          appearance of gigantic mountains crowned with snow. It
          often affords rain and thunder gusts.
      (c) Stratus. This form appears in layers or bands
          extending horizontally.
      (d) Nimbus. This form is characterized by its uniform
          gray tint and ragged edges; it covers the sky in
          seasons of continued rain, as in easterly storms, and
          is the proper rain cloud. The name is sometimes used
          to denote a raining cumulus, or cumulostratus.
      (e) Cirro-cumulus. This form consists, like the cirrus,
          of thin, broken, fleecelice clouds, but the parts are
          more or less rounded and regulary grouped. It is
          popularly called mackerel sky.
      (f) Cirro-stratus. In this form the patches of cirrus
          coalesce in long strata, between cirrus and stratus.
      (g) Cumulo-stratus. A form between cumulus and stratus,
          often assuming at the horizon a black or bluish tint.
          -- Fog, cloud, motionless, or nearly so, lying near
          or in contact with the earth's surface. -- Storm
          scud, cloud lying quite low, without form, and driven
          rapidly with the wind.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. A mass or volume of smoke, or flying dust, resembling
      vapor. "A thick cloud of incense." --Ezek. viii. 11.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A dark vein or spot on a lighter material, as in marble;
      hence, a blemish or defect; as, a cloud upon one's
      reputation; a cloud on a title.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. That which has a dark, lowering, or threatening aspect;
      that which temporarily overshadows, obscures, or
      depresses; as, a cloud of sorrow; a cloud of war; a cloud
      upon the intellect.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A great crowd or multitude; a vast collection. "So great a
      cloud of witnesses." --Heb. xii. 1.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A large, loosely-knitted scarf, worn by women about the
      head.
      [1913 Webster]

   Cloud on a (or the) title (Law), a defect of title,
      usually superficial and capable of removal by release,
      decision in equity, or legislation.

   To be under a cloud, to be under suspicion or in disgrace;
      to be in disfavor.

   In the clouds, in the realm of facy and imagination; beyond
      reason; visionary.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

title
    n 1: a heading that names a statute or legislative bill; may
         give a brief summary of the matters it deals with; "Title 8
         provided federal help for schools" [syn: title, statute
         title, rubric]
    2: the name of a work of art or literary composition etc.; "he
       looked for books with the word `jazz' in the title"; "he
       refused to give titles to his paintings"; "I can never
       remember movie titles"
    3: a general or descriptive heading for a section of a written
       work; "the novel had chapter titles"
    4: the status of being a champion; "he held the title for two
       years" [syn: championship, title]
    5: a legal document signed and sealed and delivered to effect a
       transfer of property and to show the legal right to possess
       it; "he signed the deed"; "he kept the title to his car in
       the glove compartment" [syn: deed, deed of conveyance,
       title]
    6: an identifying appellation signifying status or function:
       e.g. `Mr.' or `General'; "the professor didn't like his
       friends to use his formal title" [syn: title, title of
       respect, form of address]
    7: an established or recognized right; "a strong legal claim to
       the property"; "he had no documents confirming his title to
       his father's estate"; "he staked his claim" [syn: title,
       claim]
    8: (usually plural) written material introduced into a movie or
       TV show to give credits or represent dialogue or explain an
       action; "the titles go by faster than I can read"
    9: an appellation signifying nobility; "`your majesty' is the
       appropriate title to use in addressing a king"
    10: an informal right to something; "his claim on her
        attentions"; "his title to fame" [syn: claim, title]
    v 1: give a title to [syn: entitle, title]
    2: designate by an identifying term; "They styled their nation
       `The Confederate States'" [syn: style, title]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

291 Moby Thesaurus words for "title":
   absolute interest, acknowledgments, adverse possession, alodium,
   appellation, appellative, appurtenance, argument, authority, back,
   back matter, banner, banner head, baptize, bastard title, benefit,
   best seller, bibliography, binomen, binomial name, birthright,
   blood, book, bound book, bracket, branch, burgage, byword, call,
   caption, caste, catch line, catchword, category, championship,
   christen, claim, clan, class, classic, cognomen, colony, colophon,
   coloring book, common, conjugal right, contents, contents page,
   contingent interest, copyright page, crown, cryptonym, de facto,
   de jure, dedication, define, definitive work, demand, denominate,
   denomination, dependency, derivative title, desert, designate,
   designation, divine right, division, droit, drop head, dropline,
   dub, due, easement, empty title, endleaf, endpaper, endsheet,
   entitle, entitlement, epigraph, epithet, eponym,
   equitable interest, equity, errata, estate, euonym, faculty,
   fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute,
   fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible,
   fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom, flyleaf,
   folio, fore edge, foreword, frankalmoign, free socage, freehold,
   front matter, gavelkind, grade, great work, ground, group,
   grouping, half-title page, handle, hanger, hardback,
   having title to, head, head up, heading, headline, hold, holding,
   honorific, hyponym, identify, imprint, inalienable right, index,
   inscription, interest, introduction, jump head, justification,
   juvenile, juvenile book, kin, knight service, label, lay fee, leaf,
   lease, leasehold, legal claim, legal possession, legend, level,
   limitation, limp-cover book, magnum opus, makeup, mandate, moniker,
   motto, name, namesake, natural right, nickname, nomen, nomen nudum,
   nominate, nonbook, notebook, novel, occupancy, occupation, opus,
   opuscule, opusculum, order, original title, overline, ownership,
   owning, page, paperback, part, percentage, picture book,
   pigeonhole, playbook, pocket book, position, possessing,
   possession, power, prayer book, predicament, preface,
   preliminaries, preoccupancy, preoccupation, prepossession,
   prerogative, prescription, presumptive right, pretense, pretension,
   privilege, production, proof, proper claim, proper name,
   proper noun, property, property right, property rights,
   proprietary rights, psalmbook, psalter, publication, race, rank,
   rating, reason, recto, reverso, right, right of entry, rubric,
   running head, running title, scarehead, scientific name, screamer,
   secret name, section, seisin, sept, serial, set, settlement,
   signature, sketchbook, socage, soft-cover, songbook, specify,
   spread, spreadhead, squatting, stake, standard work, station,
   status, storybook, strain, stratum, streamer, strict settlement,
   style, subdivision, subgroup, subhead, subheading, sublease,
   suborder, subtitle, superscription, table of contents, tag, tail,
   tautonym, tenancy, tenantry, tenure, tenure in chivalry, term,
   text, title page, tome, trade book, trim size, trinomen,
   trinomial name, trust, type page, underlease, undertenancy, use,
   usucapion, verso, vested interest, vested right, villein socage,
   villeinhold, villenage, volume, work, writing



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TITLE estates. A title is defined by Lord Coke to be the means whereby the
owner of lands hath the just possession of his property. Co. Lit. 345; 2 Bl.
Com. 195. Vide 1 Ohio Rep. 349. This is the definition of title to lands
only.
     2. There are several stages or degrees requisite to form a complete
title to lands and tenements. 1st. The lowest and most imperfect degree of
title is the mere possession, or actual occupation of the estate, without
any apparent right to hold or continue such possession; this happens when
one man disseises another. 2 Bl. Com. 195. 2dly. The next step to a good and
perfect title is the right of possession, which may reside in one man, while
the actual possession is not in himself, but in another. This right of
possession is of two sorts; an apparent right of possession, which may be
defeated by proving a better; and an actual right of possession, which will
stand the test against all opponents. Idem. 196. 3dly. The mere right of
property, the jus proprietatis without either possession or the right of
possession. Id. 197.
     3. A title is either good, marketable, doubtful, or bad.
     4. A good title is that which entitles a man by right to a property or
estate, and to the lawful possession of the same.
     5. A marketable title is one which a court of equity considers to be so
clear that it will enforce its acceptance by a purchaser. The ordinary
acceptation of the term marketable title, would convey but a very imperfect
notion of its legal and technical import.
     6. To common apprehension, unfettered by the technical and conventional
distinction of lawyers, all titles being either good or bad, the former
would be considered marketable, the latter non-marketable. But this is not
the way they are regarded in courts of equity, the distinction taken there
being not between a title which is absolutely good or absolutely bad, but
between a title, which the court considers to be so clear that it will
enforce its acceptance by a purchaser, and one which the court will not go
so far as to declare a bad title, but only that it is subject to so much
doubt that a purchaser ought not to be compelled to accept it. 1 Jac. &
Walk. R. 568. In short, whatever may be the private opinion of the court, as
to the goodness of the title yet if there be a reasonable doubt either as to
a matter of law or fact involved in it, a purchaser will not be compelled to
complete his purchase; and such a title, though it may be perfectly secure
and unimpeachable as a holding title is said, in the current language of the
day, to be unmarketable. Atkins on Tit.2.
     7. The doctrine of marketable titles is purely equitable and of modern
origin. Id. 26. At law every title not bad is marketable. 6 Taunt. R. 263; 5
Taunt. R. 625; S. C. 1 Marsh., R. 258. See Dalzell v. Crawford, 2 Penn. Law
Journ. 17.
     8. A doubtful title is one which the court does not consider to be so
clear that it will enforce its acceptance by a purchaser, nor so defective
as to declare it a bad title, but only subject to so much doubt that a
purchaser ought not to be compelled to accept it. 1 Jac. & Walk. R. 568; 9
Cowen, R. 344; vide Title, Marketable.
     9. At common law, doubtful, titles are unknown; there every title must
be either good or bad. Atkins on Tit. 17. See Dalzell v. Crawford, 2 Penn.
Law Journ. 17.
     10. A bad title is one which conveys no property to a purchaser of an
estate.
     11. Title to real estate is acquired by two methods, namely, by descent
and by purchase. (See these words.)
     12. Title to personal property may accrue in three different ways. By
original acquisition. 2. By transfer, by act of law. 3. By transfer, by, act
of the parties.
     13.-Sec. 1. Title by original acquisition is acquired, 1st. By
occupancy. This mode of acquiring title has become almost extinct in
civilized governments, and it is permitted to exist only in those few
special cases, in which it may be consistent with the public good. First.
Goods taken by capture in war were, by the common law, adjudged to belong to
the captor, but now goods taken from enemies in time of war, vest primarily
in the sovereign, and they belong to the individual captors only to the
extent and under such regulations, as positive laws may prescribe. Finch's
Law, 28, 178 Bro. tit. Property, pl. 18, 38; 1 Wilson, 211; 2 Kent, Com.
290, 95. Secondly. Another instance of acquisition by occupancy, which still
exists under certain limitations, is that of goods casually lost by the
owner, and unreclaimed, or designedly abandoned by him; and in both these
cases they belong to the fortunate finder. 1 Bl. Com. 296. See Derilict.
     14.-2d. Title by original acquisition is acquired by accession. See
Accession.
     15.-3d. It is acquired by intellectual labor. It consists of literary
property as the construction of maps and charts, the writing of books and
papers. The benefits arising from such labor are secured to the owner. 1. By
patent rights for inventions. See Patents. 2. By copyrights. See Copyrights.
     16.-Sec. 2. The title to personal property is acquired and lost by
transfer, by act of law, in various ways. 1. By forfeiture. 2. By
succession. 3. By marriage. 4. By judgment. 5. By insolvency. 6. By
intestacy.
     17.-Sec. 3. Title is also acquired and lost by transfer by the act of
the party. 1. By gift. 2. By contract or sale.
     18. In general, possession constitutes the criterion of title of
personal property, because no other means exist by which a knowledge of the
fact to whom it belongs can be attained. A seller of a chattel is not,
therefore, required to show the origin of his title, nor, in general, is a
purchaser, without notice of the claim of the owner, compellable to make
restitution; but, it seems, that a purchaser from a tenant for life of
personal chattels, will not be secure against the claims of those entitled
in remainder. Cowp. 432; 1 Bro. C. C. 274; 2 T. R. 376; 3 Atk. 44; 3 V. & B.
16.
     19. To the rule that possession is the criterion of title of property
may be mentioned the case of ships, the title of which can be ascertained by
the register. 15 Ves. 60; 17 Ves. 251; 8 Price, R. 256, 277.
     20. To convey a title the seller must himself have a title to the
property which is the subject of the transfer. But to this general rule
there are exceptions. 1. The lawful coin of the United States will pass the
property along with the possession. 2. A negotiable instrument endorsed in
blank is transferable by any person holding it, so as by its delivery to
give a good title "to any person honestly acquiring it." 3 B. & C. 47; 3
Burr. 1516; 5 T. R. 683; 7 Bing. 284; 7 Taunt. 265, 278; 13 East,  509;
Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TITLE, persons. Titles are distinctions by which a person is known.
     2. The constitution of the United States forbids the tyrant by the
United States, or any state of any title of nobility. (q.v.) Titles are
bestowed by courtesy on certain officers; the president of the United States
sometimes receives the title of excellency; judges and members of congress
that of honorable; and members of the bar and justices of the peace are
called esquires. Cooper's, Justinian, 416'; Brackenridge's Law Miscell.
Index, h.t.
     3. Titles are assumed by foreign princes, and, among their subjects
they may exact these marks of honor, but in their intercourse with foreign
nations they are not entitled to them as a matter of right. Wheat. Intern.
Law, pt. 2, c. 3, Sec. 6.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TITLE, literature. The particular division of a subject, as a law, a book,
and the like; for example, Digest, book 1, title 2; for the law relating to
bills of exchange, see Bacon's Abridgment, title Merchant.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TITLE, rights. The name of a newspaper a book, and the like.
     2. The owner of a newspaper, having particular title, has a right to
such title, an an injunction will lie to prevent its use un lawfully by
another. 8 Paige, 75. See Pardess. n. 170.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TITLE, pleading, rights. The right of action which the plaintiff has; the
declaration must show the plaintiff's title, and if such title be not shown
in that instrument, the defect cannot be cured by any of the future
pleadings. Bac. Ab. Pleas, &c. B 1.