Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British A British soldier.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. [capitalized] Short for Tommy Atkins,' a nickname for the British private soldier.
- n. Originally, a penny roll; hence, bread; provisions; especially, goods given to a workman in lieu of wages.
- n. A tommy-shop.
- n. The system of paying workmen in goods in place of money; the truck system.
- n. A simple fellow.
- n. A tom-cat.
- n. A small round lever used to tighten round-headed screw-bolts that are perforated for this purpose.
- n. The puffin or sea-parrot, Fratercula arctica. See cut under puffin.
- n. Hence— A species of soft solder used in the jewelers' trade.
- To enforce the tommy or truck system on; oppress or defraud by the tommy system.
Wiktionary
- n. UK, slang, obsolete bread, generally a penny roll; the supply of food carried by workmen as their daily allowance
- n. UK, slang, obsolete A truck, or barter; the exchange of labour for goods instead of money.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Slang,Eng. Bread, -- generally a penny roll; the supply of food carried by workmen as their daily allowance.
- n. Slang, Eng. A truck, or barter; the exchange of labor for goods, not money.
- n. colloq. Same as Tommy Atkins; -- a shortened form.
Etymologies
- Short for Tommy Atkins, from Thomas Atkins, a name often used on sample forms. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“First thing that comes to mind Who or what comes to mind when i say "tommy"? the only thing i can think of when i hear the word tommy is the song by brand new called”
“i notice jackass tommy is here. tommy, do you support american flag boxers and briefs?”
“I also believe the boarding house was necessary for 3 reasons: 1) it gives him a chance to get to know us a bit as a race 2) tommy is the conduit how else would he have learned about the scientist and gotten to him without tommys help ..”
KAMN Show #24: The Day The Earth Stood Still : The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas
“The idea of it being frozen up, and icebergs, and all that kind of tommy-rot is simply the same kind of propaganda that was used against the building of the C.P.R. in western Canada.”
“I am sorry, but A.B. & Co, haven't any shekels for that kind of tommy-rot.”
“A French Dragoon Captain insisted there was cream in the soup, and a German Lancer protested that cooking was never simple because he had never managed to cook anything other than a boiled egg and even then it came out hard as a Cuirasseur's breastplate, and a Fusilier Captain insisted he had seen men boil eggs by whirling them round and round in a cloth sling, taking forever, and Harold Price insisted on giving the recipe for a 'tommy', the British Army pancake, which consisted of nothing but flour and water, but still took Price two minutes to describe.”
“tommy" (one of the kittens) or spiderman and they get a giggle.”
“Cleopanther: "As I understand it, the rules of free trade say that the companies with the best inventory relevant to ..." tommy: "TAC, you're probably right.”
“If sonic wanted the extra hour all they had to do was contribute to tommy boy's campaign.”
“Anonymous said ... yeah, cuz kmitch isn't just writing what tommy boy asks.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tommy’.
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•Open List: Songboys
Inspired by gangerh's extremely addictive list songbirds, this is the same type list, but for male names. Same rules apply:
Names of boys in song titles. Not in the lyrics, just in the title...jack, jesse, jakey, john, arthur, nick, donald, bill, billy, gideon, riley, charlie and 95 more...
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Soldiers and Sailors
Types and nicknames.
highlander, guardswoman, foot soldier, lobsterback, man-at-arms, grenadier, billman, redcoat, fusilier, guardsman, marine, trooper and 95 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tommy.
chained_bear "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" is an old sea shanty. Feb 10, 2008
minerva Song by The Who. Feb 9, 2008