Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (157 page)

a teeny tockley
He got his tockley out.

Tod (Sloan)
n British See
on one's tod

todger
n British

the penis. A version of the more common

tadger
.

‘Orange Y-fronts with a slogan like “my todger is in here”.'
(Alternative-comedy act, Jo Brand

(“the Sea-Monster”), Montreal Comedy Festival, 1988)

todger-dodger
n British

a lesbian. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

to die
adj American

utterly excellent, wonderful. A
preppie
term, used typically by female speakers in thrilled approval or admiration. The expression, shortened from the colloquial ‘to die for', refers to the notion of dying for something or of love for someone and is probably influenced by a usage such as
killer
.

Did you see that boy in the cut-off chinos?
My God, he was to die!
It was just to die.

toe-jam
n

an accretion of dirt between the toes

toerag
n British

a contemptible person, a scrounger, ne'erdo-well, tramp or thief. Toe-rags were the bindings wound around the feet of convicts or tramps in the 19th century. The word had taken on its present meaning by early in the 20th century in both Britain and Australia. During the 1950s and 1960s toerag was an obscure cockney term; it was given wider currency in the 1970s by TV programmes such as
The Sweeney
and the pop songs of Ian Dury. From the mid-1980s it has been revived by working-class Londoners. In Britain toerag is often used facetiously or slightly dismissively, in Australia it can sometimes indicate approval of one who acts like a (natural, rather than social) gentleman.

toes
n pl See
have it (away) on one's toes

toey
adj Australian

nervous, agitated. By 2004 the term was in use in the UK.

toff
n British

a socially superior and/or wealthy person. The word dates from the middle of the 19th century and probably derives from ‘tuft' (used of a titled undergraduate at Oxford or Cambridge who wore a decoration on his cap) rather than the later ‘toffee-nosed'. The word had an archaic ring in the 1960s and early 1970s but, like other working-class terms relating to money and status, has been revived by modern cockneys and their ‘upwardly-mobile' emulators.

‘Max was trying to build a high-tech laboratory complex, but all kinds of posh people were blocking his path. Basically, nobody loves you if you're common and you presume to take liberties with toffs.'
(Kate Saunders,
Evening Standard
, 17 May 1989)

toffee
n British

1.
nonsense, empty talk or flattery. This is predominantly a working-class usage, particularly popular in the armed forces and in London. The origin of the image is probably in the idea of something sweet, sticky and attractively wrapped.

‘She gave me a load of old toffee as usual about what a reputable organisation they are and how they enjoy doing business with us.'
(Recorded, advertising executive, London, 1988)

2.
gelignite. A term used by criminals and terrorists since the 1950s, from the explosive's appearance.

together
adj

in control of oneself, well organised, adjusted, collected. Derived from the phrase
get it together
, this became a catchword of the late 1960s and early 1970s, designating an approved state of self-possession, inner harmony, etc.; the antonym was
untogether
. The usage is now dated.

togg outs
n British See
give (someone) togg outs

toilet
¹
n

a disgusting, squalid or depressing place. A usage which has been in vogue since the 1980s.

toilet
²
n
,
adj British

(something or someone) inferior, of poor quality, disappointing

That programme is a load of toilet if you ask me. ‘He played really fucking badly; he was really toilet.'
(Recorded, London student, April 2001)

toilet
³
vb

to fail irrevocably

We should have got out before the company toileted.

toilet-talk
n

‘smutty', coarse or obscene conversation. An American euphemism of the 1950s which has since been adopted for ironic or jocular use in Britain and Australia.

‘OK, I'll go next door and you two can get on with your toilet-talk.'
(Recorded, Devon, 1986)

toke
vb
,
n

(to take) an inhalation of a
joint
or pipe of cannabis. This has been a standard term in the marihuana and hashish smokers' vocabulary since the late 1960s. Toke probably comes from the Spanish
tocar
, meaning to touch.

tokus
n American See
tush

tom
¹
n British

1.
jewellery. A piece of underworld rhyming slang, from
tomfoolery
.

2.
a prostitute. In police jargon and in the slang of the underworld and prison this has been a standard term since the 1940s. It derives from a 19th-century use of the nickname Tom to denote a masculine, assertive or aggressive streetwalker.

‘…and he says that the tom couldn't have been where the police officer said she was because she was in bed with him. He was transferred the same day.'
(Police sergeant,
Inside the British Police
, Simon Holdaway, 1989)

3.
an act of defecation. Rhyming slang from ‘tom-tit' (the bird):
shit
.

tom
²
vb British

to work as a prostitute. A fairly rare extension of the noun sense.

tombstones
n pl

the teeth. A jocular simile often applied to gapped, uneven or partly discoloured teeth.

tomcat, tomcat around
vb American

to prowl, usually at night, in search of sexual activity. A term used disapprovingly, usually by women of men.

tomfoolery
n British

jewellery. A piece of rhyming slang more often heard in the short form
tom
.

toms, the, the tom-tits
n Australian

an attack of diarrhoea, or feelings of intense discomfort or dislike. A vulgarism based on the rhyme tom-tits:
shits
. The singular form is more prevalent in British rhyming slang.

ton, a ton, the ton
n

a. the ton
(or, less commonly,
a ton
) 100 miles per hour. A term, used typically by British motorcyclists, which has been in use since the early 1950s. It was popularised by the press describing the activities of
ton-up kids
. The word was adopted by American hotrodders in the 1960s.

b. a ton
£100, in working-class and underworld parlance

c.
£1,000 in the parlance of City of London financial traders and others

tongue-job, tongue-bath
n

a.
a
French kiss

b.
an act of cunnilingus Both uses of both terms are from the late 1960s lexicon of
hippies
and pornographers. In the sense of kiss the expression has been supplanted in US teenage and
preppie
usage by
tongue sushi
.

tongue sushi
n American

French kissing
. A
preppie
term inspired by the Japanese raw fish delicacy fashionable from the late 1970s and 1980s.

tonguing
n

French kissing
. A term popular among British teenagers in the 1990s. It was included in
Just Seventeen
magazine's article, ‘lingo of lurve' (a guide to the slang of dating) in August 1996.

‘We weren't actually doing it, only tonguing in the back of the car.'
(Recorded, London student, 1995)

tonk
¹
, tonker
n Australian

a.
a fool

b.
an effeminate or homosexual male Both usages date from before the 1950s and are of unknown origin. (‘Tong' is an archaic term for the penis but may be quite unrelated.)

tonk
²
n British

a fat or heavily-built man or woman. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers.

tonk
³
adj British

muscular, well-built. Defined by one user as ‘beefed-up and hardcore, e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger'.

tonsed-up
adj British

well dressed, smart in appearance. The term, originally deriving from Latin
tonsor
, hairdresser, may also mean
tarted up
in order to sell, e.g. by a car dealer. A long-established item of London slang, still used by some older speakers in 2010.

‘…stolen looking for a quick sale…then tonsed up by a home trader'
(Posting on Alfa Romeo owners' website, November 2007)

tonsil hockey
n American

a. French kissing
. ‘Tongue-hockey' is an alternative form of the expression.

b.
oral sex, usually fellatio. The term was popular among American college students in the late 1990s.

ton-up kid/boy
n British

a teenage or young adult motorcyclist, a precursor of the
rocker
. Ton-up boys were the bugbears of the popular press in the late 1950s. ‘A ton' or ‘the ton' was 100 mph, the goal of the leather-jacketed groups who gathered near suburban bypasses and main roads to stage informal speed trials and races or to go for a ‘burn-up' (to drive as quickly as possible, simply for the enjoyment of speed).

‘The BBC broadcast of “Morning Service” from Keele University, Staffs, yesterday was interrupted when a record about “ton-up” boys was heard above the hymn singing. A loudspeaker was found hidden behind a stage in the chapel.'
(
Daily Telegraph
, 25 January 1965)

Tony Benner
n British

a
tenner
, a £10 note. The rhyming slang uses the name of the Labour politician Tony Benn. Synonyms are
Ayrton (Senna)
and
Pavarotti
.

Tony Blairs, Tonys
n pl British

flared trousers. A jocular usage by British adolescents in the later 1990s borrowing the name of the Prime Minister to replace the earlier rhymes
Lionel Blairs
and
Grosvenor Squares
.

tool
n

1.
the penis. The notion of the male member as an implement is very ancient. The word tool itself appeared in Middle English and by the 16th century had been recorded as a sexual metaphor. It was at first an acceptable colloquialism, but since the beginning of the 19th century has been considered vulgar.

‘Play it safe
Play it cool
Wear a Jiffi
On your tool.'
(Promotional slogan for
Jiffi
condoms, 1988)

2.
a fool. Like many other words designating the male member, tool has the secondary meaning of a stupid (male) person. In the US since 2000 the word has also denoted an inept, unpopular or unpleasant male.

3.
a weapon. This usage is now rare, but has given rise to the standard underworld and police jargon expression
tooled-up
(armed with firearms) in British English.

tool around/about
vb

to idle or loaf, mess around performing trivial tasks. Originally an upper-class Edwardian phrase, probably from the sense of tool meaning to drive (a coach) skilfully and smoothly, hence to perform without effort. In modern speech there may also be a convergence with the sense of
tool
as the male member, paralleled in the synonymous usage
dick around
.

tooled-up
adj British

a.
armed, issued with firearms. A term used by the underworld and the police since the early 1950s. The noun
tool
, denoting a firearm, is now archaic. The expression tooled-up became more widely known in the later 1970s and 1980s after references in the media; it is sometimes extended to denote armed with knives, coshes or other weapons.

‘Some of the briefing scenes could have come straight from a movie thriller as the elite Squad members get “tooled up” – issued with snub-nosed revolvers and pump-action shotguns.'
(
News of the World
, 5 February 1989)

b.
equipped with housebreaking implements. A piece of police and underworld jargon.

tool up
vb British

to arm oneself

We're going to have to tool up if we take that lot on.

too much
exclamation