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Webster 1913 Edition
Teetotum
Tee-to′tum
,Noun.
[For T-
totum
. It was used for playing games of chance, and was four-sided, one side having the letter T on it, standing for Latin totum
all, meaning, take all that is staked, whence the name. The other three sides each had a letter indicating an English or Latin word; as P meaning put down, N nothing or L. nil
, H half. See Total
.] A child’s toy, somewhat resembling a top, and twirled by the fingers.
The staggerings of the gentleman . . . were like those of a
teetotum
nearly spent. Dickens.
Definition 2025
teetotum
teetotum
English
teetotum (sense 1)
Alternative forms
- T-totum
Noun
teetotum (plural teetotums)
- (historical) A toy (spinning top) similar to a dreidel.
- 1872, Lewis Caroll, “Wool and Water”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, page 104:
- "Are you a child or a teetotum?" the Sheep said, as she took up another pair of needles. "You'll make me giddy soon, if you go on turning round like that."
-
Etymology 2
Noun
teetotum (plural teetotums)
- (historical) A working men's club conducted under religious influences, as an alternative to drinking in the saloon.