English

Alternative forms

• toch emma
• tock emma

Noun

toc emma ‎(plural toc emmas)

1. (military slang, now historical) Trench mortar. [from 20th c.]
   • 1928, RC Sherriff, Journey's End:

     After dark the toch-emmas are going to break the Boche wire and we'll cut a passage in ours.

   • 2010, Rebecca Wilby, In Different Skies, p. 180:

     'Field artillery?' 'No. Toc-emmas.' He was referring to trench-mortars.