Meanings
plural tallywags · alternative tarriwag · alternative tarrywag · alternative tarrywock
- archaicin pluralslangA testicle.First known use 17th c.
And not forget that Pious Prince / Whose Tarriwags it held long since. / What tho’ that Codpiece’s dimension, / Shows something was of large extention
1715, Samuel Butler, Posthumous Works in Prose and Verse, page 17‑181 more example
But any more lip like that and it's not the crack of this slingshot pebble that you'll feel but a fist curling your teeth and these clogs kicking your tallywags up into your mouth to meet them.
2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 10Synonyms: testicles, testes, acorns, agates, apples, apricots, bags, ballocks
- archaicslangThe penis.First known use 19th c.
Mrs. Hemstock (rather faintly): I canna abide to feel a man’s arms shiverin’ agen me. It ma’es me feel like a tallywag post hummin’.
1941, D.H. Lawrence, The Merry-Go-Round, act I, scene 1Synonyms: anaconda, baloney pony, bald-headed hermit, banana, bird, birdie, bobby, boonga
- uncommonThe black sea bass, Centropristis striata.
These are our five favorites: Black Sea Bass ¶ Also called black perch, rock bass, chub, and tallywag
2014, Bernard Guillas, Ronald Oliver, Two Chefs, One Catch: A Culinary Exploration of Seafood, page 2201 more example
72. CENTROPRISTIS STRIATA. (the black sea-bass, black-fish, tally-wag, hannahill, black-will, black harry)
1890, David Starr Jordan, Carl Eigenmann, A Review of the Genera and Species of Serranidae Found in the Waters of America and Europe, page 391
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA testicle.
Origin
Unknown. Possibly a compound of tally (“a corresponding half”, noun) + wag (verb).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tallywag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tallywag
“tallywag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tallywag. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tallywag,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tallywag.
Source: tallywag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.