toodlum buck

noun

The game of crown and anchor.

Meanings

nountoodlum buck (uncountable)

alternative doodlem-buck · alternative doodle-em-buck · alternative toodlembuc · alternative toodlembuck · alternative toodlumbuck · alternative toodle-em-buck

  1. CanadaNew ZealandobsoleteuncountableThe game of crown and anchor.

    toodle-em-buck, the game of crown and anchor

    1933, Slang To-Day and Yesterday, Eric Partridge, London: Routledge & Kegal Paul, page 294
    1 more example

    TOODLUM BUCKS: A Crown and Anchor game, 10/6 for 7/6.

    1941 (July 11), “Whitcombes Sale” advertisement, The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, page 1
  2. AustraliaarchaicuncountableA betting game involving a spinner marked with horses’ names.

    I regard these games as more or less of the same class as the Toodlum-buck I played when a youngster.

    1939 (August 1), Hansard of the 33rd Parliament of Victoria, Volume 207, page 638
    1 more example

    But children of the early 1900's had a gambling custom—extinct now, as far as I could learn—claiming the picturesque name of “Toodlembuck” and employing a unique handmade gambling wheel and “cherry bobs” (cherry stones cherries are in season at Melbourne Cup time) for money.

    1960, “The “Toodlembuck”—Australian children’s gambling device and game”, Dorothy Howard, Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 73, No. 287 (Jan.–Mar. 1960), pages 53–54
  3. AustraliauncountableThe piece of wood (cat) that is struck in tipcat.
  4. New ZealanduncountableA carnival game in which marbles were thrown at holes or at buttons on the ends of sticks.
Cite this entry
APA

toodlum buck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toodlum%20buck

MLA

“toodlum buck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toodlum%20buck. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toodlum buck,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toodlum%20buck.

Source: toodlum buck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.