tosh

tosh · noun, verb¹

From 19th-century British thieves' cant, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from *tarsh, a metathetic alteration of trash; or from toss. Sense of nonsense possibly influenced by tush (“nonsense! tsk tsk!”) attested from 15th century.

tosh · adjective, adverb, verb²

Compare Old French tonce (“shorn, clipped”) and English tonsure.

tosh · noun³

1. Italian · derived frommezzo corona“half-crown”
2. Italian · derived fromcorona“crown”
3. English todaytosh

From 19th-century British slang tosheroon, from or alongside tusheroon, of uncertain derivation from British slang caroon (“crown, a 5-shilling silver coin”), from Sabir and (originally) Italian corona (“crown”). The term was either derived from or influenced by madza caroon, the British slang for the Sabir and Italian mezzo corona (“half-crown”), possibly under influence from tosh (“copper items; valuables”) above or from the half-crown's value of two shillings & sixpence.

Tosh · proper noun⁴

1. Hebrew · derived fromטאהש
2. Yiddish · derived fromטאהש
3. English todayTosh

From Yiddish טאהש (Tosh), from Hebrew טאהש (Tash).

Words from the same roots