Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The male of various animals, especially a male cat or turkey.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Middle English form of
toom . - noun An abbreviation of
tome (volume). - noun A familiar form of the common Christian name Thomas.
- noun Used, like
jack , attributively or in composition with the name of an animal, a male: as, a tom-cat; hence, as a noun, a male; specifically, a male cat. - noun The knave of trumps at gleek.
- noun A close-stool.
- noun A machine formerly used in gold-washing, first in the southern Atlantic States, and later in California, where, however, it was soon superseded by the sluice.
- noun Same as def. 5, above.
- noun A kind of large pitcher or water-can in use in England in the early part of the nineteenth century.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete The knave of trumps at gleek.
- noun A familiar contraction of
Thomas , a proper name of a man. - noun The male of certain animals; -- often used adjectively or in composition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK A
tomato (the fruit). - noun Cockney rhyming slang
jewellery - noun The male of the
domesticated cat . - noun The male of the
turkey . - noun The male of certain other animals.
- noun UK, slang A
prostitute . - noun music A type of
drum . - noun obsolete The
jack oftrumps in thecard game gleek .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (ethnic slur) offensive and derogatory name for a Black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to Whites
- noun male turkey
- noun male cat
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Fantailed and puffed out, head glowing red, white, and blue like a neon sign, the tom is as formidable as any animal I've ever faced.
How to Take Gobblers with a Bow E. Donnall Thomas Jr. 2004
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Fantailed and puffed out, head glowing red, white, and blue like a neon sign, the tom is as formidable as any animal I've ever faced.
Turkey Hunting for Masochists E. Donnall Thomas Jr. 2004
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It seems there is no way to pull a tom from the real thing.
i'm getting ready for turkey season to come around and i just want to get something straight. 2009
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It seems there is no way to pull a tom from the real thing.
i'm getting ready for turkey season to come around and i just want to get something straight. 2009
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And as an add to the question on sat navs, my tom tom gives my car and tom tom speed the same at up to 30mph above that l get a discrepancy, the tom tom is always slower than the car.
Ground Control To Major Tom. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009
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August 17th, 2009 12: 59 pm ET tom is one ulgy. man how did you manage to get this shot of him. if you can produce a retouched, air brushed, untrue picture to create this tom, then i want the same consideration given to everyone you feature on CNN.
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December 29th, 2009 11: 35 am ET bring back tom! the man did imho a great job considering it was crisis mgmnt of the highest order. at least tom is an adult and acknowledges that the bad guys are for real and are not criminals or sociopaths. they are fanatics of the highest order, and deserve to be treated as such.
Ridge: Terror suspect doesn't deserve 'full range' of rights 2009
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August 17th, 2009 1: 00 pm ET tom is one ulgy. man how did you manage to get this shot of him. if you can produce a retouched, air brushed, untrue picture to create this tom, then i want the same consideration given to everyone you feature on CNN.
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Payne by name on Apr 8, 2008 maybe tom is just not that exciting anymore?
Bryan Singer's Valkyrie Gets Moved to 2009 « FirstShowing.net 2008
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As as I was putting around the apartment today, wallowing in tom kha and ginger tea, nursing my headcold, ity occurred to me that in some ways what I'm doing is trying to build a relationship.
I am glad I stayed home from climbing after all, even though it made me sad to do it. matociquala 2008
slumry commented on the word tom
the male of the species (well, some species)
June 29, 2007
oroboros commented on the word tom
"Who keeps attributing all these puns to me?!" Tom said unknowingly...
October 31, 2007
skipvia commented on the word tom
Just Like Tom Thumb Blues by Bob Dylan
February 9, 2008
treeseed commented on the word tom
Tom Dooley, Kingston Trio, #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958
February 9, 2008
bilby commented on the word tom
I've no idea what WordNet is on about. In British slang tom means a female prostitute. Not in use in use in Australia.
October 26, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tom
This comes from the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
The term used to be (many years ago) "Uncle Tom," but seems to have been shortened to Tom. Some info about the book here. The book was so influential that several of the characters' names entered the public discourse as a shorthand or stereotype of a certain kind of person--e.g. Uncle Tom, Eva, Simon Legree...
October 27, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word tom
See also comments on Uncle Tom.
November 7, 2008