A.“ἔτι_λα” Theoc.3.21, (ἀπ-) Ar.Lys.578. Fr.686: pf. “τέτιλκα” PCair.Zen.782(b.).121 (iii B.C.):—Med., Ep. impf. “τιλλέσθην” Il.24.711: fut. τι^λοῦμαι (παρα-) Men.363.5:—Pass., aor. “ἐτίλθην” Ar.Nu. 1083: 2 aor. ἐτίλην [ι^] LXX Da.7.4; 3sg. imper. “τιλήτωι” PFay.131.18 (iii/iv A.D.); part. τειλείς (i.e. τιλ-) PFlor.322.36 (iii A.D.): pf. “τέτιλμαι” LXXIs.18.7, (ἐκ-) Anacr.21.10, (ἀπο-) Anaxil.22.20, (παρα-) Ar.Ra.516:—pluck or pull outhair, etc., “πολιὰς δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἀνὰ τρίχας ἕλκετο χερσί, τίλλων ἐκ κεφαλῆς” Il.22.78; τίλλε κόμην ib.406; “τρίχας” Men. Epit.271, Her.5; “ἐρέβινθον” PCair.Zen.719.6 (iii B.C.); “τ. στάχυας καὶ ἐσθίειν” Ev.Matt.12.1; “τ. χόρτον τοῖς κτῆσι” PFlor.321.47 (iii A.D.):— Med., Χαίτας τίλλεσθαι pluck out one's hair, Od.10.567.
2. with acc. of that from which the hair or feathers are plucked, τίλλειν πέλειαν, of birds of prey, 15.527, cf. Hdt.3.76; “κίρκον εἰσορῶ . . χηλαῖς κάρα τίλλοντα” A.Pers.209; τίλλουσι τὴν γλαῦκα, of small birds attacking the owl, Arist.HA609a15; so of the cuckoo, ib.618a29 (Pass.); as a description of an idle fellow, “τίλλων ἑαυτόν” Ar.Pax 546, cf. Ra.428; of a cook, pluck a fowl, Eub.150.5, cf. Plu.2.233a; also “τ. λαγών” Ar.Fr.212; τ. πλάτανον pluck its leaves off, Plu.Them. 18; “τὸν στέφανον τῖλαί με κατ᾽ αὐτίκα λεπτὰ ποησεῖς” Theoc. l.c.; κῴδια τ. PPetr.2p.108 = 3p.78 (iii B.C.); also, pluck live sheep, instead of shearing, τοῖς τίλλουσιν τὰ ὑποδίφθερα (sc. πρόβατα) PCair.Zen.430.3 (iii B.C.), cf. Suid. s.v. πεκτῆρες:—Pass., have one's hair plucked out, Ar.Th.593; τέφρᾳ τιλθῆναι, as a punishment of adulterers, Id.Nu.1083; v. παρατίλλω, τέφρα.
6. νεφέλιον παρατεταμένον καὶ τιλλόμενον cirrous, Thphr.Sign.43.
II. since tearing the hair was a usual expression of sorrow, τίλλεσθαί τινα tear one's hair in sorrow for any one, “τόν γ᾽ ἄλοχός τε φίλη καὶ πότνια μήτηρ τιλλέσθην” Il.24.711: without acc., “τιλλόμενοι καὶ κλαίοντες” Phld.Ir. p.36 W.
III. metaph., pluck, vex, annoy, Anacr.13B; στέφανον τ., = τοὺς νόμους λυμαίνεσθαι, Pythag. ap. Porph.VP42:—Pass., ὑπὸ συκοφαντῶν τίλλεσθαι, with allusion to a bird's feathers, Ar.Av.285. (Not found in Att. Prose.)