tommy

plural tommies

1. UKcountableslanguncountableA British infantryman, especially one from World War I. Ellipsis of Tommy Atkins.

   Synonyms: tommy boy

2. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableBread or breadlike foodstuff, generally a penny roll.
3. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableThe supply of food carried by workmen as their daily allowance.
4. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableA truck, or barter; the exchange of labour for goods instead of money; the scrip by which such exchange occurs.

   1 more example

   No. 84. April 6. * * * * * *, aged 13: Works at gimlets and centre-bits, &c.; works from six in the morning till seven at night; has worked here about two years; gets 4s. 6d. a week. Works for one of the men; every man pays his own boy; is paid in tommy; the man he works for gives him a note to the office, Mr. Parsons', for the money; Mr. James Parsons gives him the money, and he gives it to the man, who gives him the tommy for the money. It is John Parsons's Tommy-shop; doesn't know if his name is over the door, can't read. The man he works for behaves well to him; does not beat him; likes his work, has nothing to complain of. Went to a day-school about three years ago, but for a very little time. His father could not afford to pay for it; it was only 2d. a week, but they could hardly get bread enough at that time. Never goes to a Sunday-school; his clothes is ript so bad his father's ashamed on him going. Not badly grown; meagre, not unhealthy; dirty, and in rags.

   1842, Commissioners for Inquiring into the Employment and Condition of Children in Mines and Manufactories, “Evidence of the Employment of Children”, in Appendix to the Second Report of the Commissioners: Trades and Manufactures, Reports and Evidence from Sub-Commissioners, Part 2. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, London: William Clowes and Sons, page 19

5. countableuncountableA tommy bar.
6. abbreviationcountableslanguncountableShort for Tommy gun
7. countabledatedslanguncountableTommyrot; nonsense.

   'Don't talk tommy, Guy!' she exclaimed half wrathfully. 'As if I could possibly put on two left shoes without knowing it, even if I could get them on. […]'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

8. countableobsoleteslanguncountableSynonym of dicky (“detachable shirt front”).

   Synonyms: dicky

present singular third person tommies · participle present tommying · participle past tommied · past tommied

1. UKobsoleteslangtransitiveTo pay (employees) according to the truck system, with goods instead of money.

1. A diminutive of the male given name Thomas.

   The Tory hard right is in the ascendancy, and a fascist street movement – led by convicted fraudster Tommy Robinson – represents a growing threat.

   2018 July 18, Owen Jones, “The hard right can only be defeated from the left, not from the centre”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2018

   1 more example

   The Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham was suspended by Major League Baseball for three games on Saturday after he slapped the San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson because of a dispute about their fantasy football league.

   2022 May 29, “MLB bans Tommy Pham for slapping opponent over fantasy football dispute”, in The Guardian, sourced from Associated Press, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2022

2. uncommon relative to the male given nameA diminutive of the female given name Thomasina.

plural Tommies

1. abbreviationcolloquialellipsisEllipsis of Tommy Atkins, a typical private in the British army; a British soldier.

   And every night now he played pontoon, that game of the Tommies, with Mrs Bolton, gambling with sixpences.

   1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter XV, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?" But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll

   1892, Rudyard Kipling, Tommy

   Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'

   1949, Stephen Peter Llewellyn, Journey Towards Christmas, page 142

   He liked the Germans better than he did the French; but for all that, if he went down the back streets of a night, it was with three or four British Tommies, in case the Jerries weren't as friendly as they made out.

   1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 129

   1. broadlycolloquialAny common soldier; a member of the rank and file.

      1 more example

      May was in New Zealand when war broke out, and immediately left for France, where she worked in a military hospital in a converted high school in Marseilles. Writing home, she said that the French officers were said to be 'fussy' so she was glad to be nursing the Tommies (meaning French rank and file): 'they are brave and good, and patient, and such grateful patients. They are helpful to each other, and take such an interest in their fellow sufferers.'

      2017, Janet Tolerton, Make Her Praises Heard Afar: New Zealand Women Overseas in World War One, →ISBN, page 38

2. obsoleterareA lesbian.

   1 more example

   Here, here, here again! Coquettes, flirts, harlots, adultereſſes, tulips, pinks, roſes, lilies, violets, wormwood, fennel, and hemlock! Unnatural, unnatural, unnatural! Tommies, Tommies, Tommies! Women kiſſing women; doating, languiſhing, dying, pining, crying, caterwauling, for each other! Ha, ha, ha! O the madneſs of this age!

   1777, [Anon.], “Number XVII. A faſhionable, diſgraceful Paſſion expoſed.”, in The Laughing Philosopher, Dublin: Printed for James Williams, →OCLC, page 91

3. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of tommy boy.
4. penis

   Resolutely I refrained from thrusting or withdrawing for a minute or two and then drew out slowly to her lips and as I pushed Tommy gently in again, she leaned up and kissed me passionately.

   1922, Frank Harris, “X”, in My Life and Loves