Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hot toddy.
  • noun The sweet sap of certain tropical Asian palm trees, used as a beverage.
  • noun An alcoholic beverage made by fermenting this sap.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The drawn sap of several species of palm, especially when fermented.
  • noun A drink made of spirits and hot water sweetened, and properly having no other ingredients: this use is originally Scotch. Also colloquially tod.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A juice drawn from various kinds of palms in the East Indies; or, a spirituous liquor procured from it by fermentation.
  • noun A mixture of spirit and hot water sweetened.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a weaver bird of the East Indies and India: -- so called from its fondness for the juice of the palm.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the common paradoxure; the palm cat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Hot toddy.
  • noun dated The sweet sap from any of several tropical trees fermented to make an alcoholic drink.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a mixed drink made of liquor and water with sugar and spices and served hot

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi tāṛī, palm sap, fermented palm sap, from tāṛ, palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer), from Sanskrit tālaḥ, perhaps of Dravidian origin; akin to Telugu tāḍu.]

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Examples

  • The toddy is the following in a mug: two inches of good brandy, two tablespoons of honey, juice of one whole lemon, fill to top with hot water.

    Comfort: It Sucks to be sick! « California Life: Better Than Happy Hour 2008

  • The embryo bud from which the blossoms and nuts would spring is tied up to prevent its expansion; a small incision then being made at the end, there oozes in gentle drops a pleasant liquor called toddy, which is the palm wine of the poet.

    Foot-prints of Travel or, Journeyings in Many Lands Maturin Murray Ballou 1857

  • The principal production of this palm is the toddy, which is procured in the same manner as from other palms, or in the following mode: one of the spatae or shoot of fructification is, on the first appearance of fruit, beaten for three successive days with a small stick, with a view of determining the sap to the wounded part.

    North Coast Culture tellurian 2008

  • The principal production of this palm is the toddy, which is procured in the same manner as from other palms, or in the following mode: one of the spatae or shoot of fructification is, on the first appearance of fruit, beaten for three successive days with a small stick, with a view of determining the sap to the wounded part.

    Archive 2008-08-01 tellurian 2008

  • M. O'BRIEN: Yes, all right, then the hot toddy, which is 130 calories, as opposed to the egg nog.

    CNN Transcript Dec 12, 2005 2005

  • A small china punch-bowl was then produced by the host, and was twice replenished with the very popular beverage called toddy, of which the

    Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume III. Mrs. Thomson

  • The beach was lined with the areca, or fan-palm tree, from which the well-known liquor called toddy is procured.

    Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King

  • They began to gather about seven o'clock, when it was expected that boiling water would be in readiness for the compound generally called toddy, sometimes punch.

    Robert Falconer George MacDonald 1864

  • The date palm yields a wine called toddy, or palm wine, and from the

    Miscellanea Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863

  • A most important product called toddy or palm wine is obtained from the flower spikes, which yield a great quantity of juice for four or five months.

    Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861

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