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subtitle

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sub⋅ti⋅tle

[suhb-tahyt-l] noun, verb, -tled, -tling.
–noun
1. a secondary or subordinate title of a literary work, usually of explanatory character.
2. a repetition of the leading words in the full title of a book at the head of the first page of text.
3. Movies, Television.
a. the text of dialogue, speeches, operas, etc., translated into another language and projected on the lower part of the screen.
b. (in silent motion pictures) a title or caption.
–verb (used with object)
4. to give a subtitle to.

Origin:
1875–80; sub- + title


sub⋅tit⋅u⋅lar [suhb-tich-uh-ler, -tit-yuh-] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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sub·ti·tle   (sŭb'tīt'l)   
n.  
  1. A secondary, usually explanatory title, as of a literary work.

  2. A printed translation of the dialogue of a foreign-language film shown at the bottom of the screen.

tr.v.   sub·ti·tled, sub·ti·tling, sub·ti·tles
  1. To give a subtitle to.

  2. To provide with subtitles: a film that was subtitled for English-speaking audiences.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

subtitle  (n.)
1825, "subordinate or additional title," in ref. to literary works, from sub- "under" + title. Applied to motion pictures first in 1909.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

subtitle

a secondary or explanatory title. Such titles can explain the form of the work, as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Remorse: A Tragedy, in Five Acts; they can give an idea of the theme or contents of the book, as in George Eliot's Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life; or they can simply be an alternate title, which may or may not be a comment on the work, such as Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson and Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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