Do you know what tittivate means?

[PCPlumsTruncheon]

Very very long backstory but my DM and DF went to visit DD today and then came to see me and told me that DD had planned a morning of tittivating as she was going to a wedding reception but her plans were thwarted by the water being cut off.
I am a bit of a grammar/spelling geek but had genuinely never heard of this word and thought that DM was getting it mixed up with ‘tittilate’.
How many of you (without Googling) know what this word means?

[missclimpson]

South-east by origin and age late sixties here. Very common in my childhood and I still use it.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

You’ve been watching too any carry on films.

[Jessbow]

You can titivate just about anything. Not just make up/grooming.

I recently titivated a wedding cake- the decoration was poor, so I messed about with ribbon and Gyp to 'titivate' it

[RickOShay]

It’s a great word imho

[PCPlumsTruncheon]

OK I stand corrected. I agree that you learn something new every day. I shall make an effort today to drop it into conversation as much as I can - however tenuous the link to whatever is being talked about

[maxiflump1]

We are from the south west and DM spends hours titivating the Christmas tree: rearranging the baubles etc.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

Yes, again my mum used it all the time,

[RickOShay]

Do it Plums. Once you start you’ll find opportunities everywhere

[TowerRingInferno]

I use it all the time, usually in the context of faffing about with cake decorations or flower arrangements.

[Gersemi]

Why would you think that the water being cut off would stop someone titillating????

[AwkwardSquad]

Yes. It’s a great word, I must use it more! Thanks for reminding me about it

[jmh740]

My mum uses it a lot, to me it's messing around for little reason, plumping the cushions, making sure the place mats are all aligned little things like that.

[PattiStanger]

Perfectly normal word in my family too but I wouldn't use it for something someone was doing to themself, more what you would do to inanimate objects, and only 1 t

[Morethanthisprovincallife]

Ha.. My dm was also a frequent user of this word 😂😂

[Enko]

I know what it means and English is not my first language. (I have lived her over 20 years though )

[Danglingmod]

Perfectly normal word, not Northern.

Most people I know use it to describe someone "improving" a room or a "thing", though, not their person necessarily.

[Meet0nTheIedge]

Yes, but agree that it's an old fashioned, Carry-On film type word, I don't hear it used very often nowadays.

[AwdBovril]

Yes. My mother always said it, disparagingly, if I was painting my nails or something. She's not Northern. I always took it to have negative connotations.

[Upsy1981]

In December I am regularly to be found titivating the Christmas tree. I move baubles about and generally faff with it until it is 'just right' usually because a cat has knocked the hitherto perfectly positioned baubles off and I can't get them back in quite the right place.

[MarklahMarklah]

Primping, preening & generally 'tarting up' in order to impress others.

[SortingTheDrawers]

Yup. Used often in our family to mean general faffing about doing lots but nothing of great importance. Almost procrastinating...

[RiverTam]

I know what it means and I know how to spell it. It’s a splendid word, enjoy your use of it, OP!

[SmellyHead]

Yes, I know what titivate means. To titivate something is to decorate it to make it look pretty.

[Hoppinggreen]

Yes I do, might be a Yorkshire word
I have never heard it to describe a person getting ready though, it’s more something you do to an inanimate object - like “spruce up”

[donquixotedelamancha]

Perfectly cromulent word. As PPs have said: two ts, not three.