Tom

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɒm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɑm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒm

From Middle English Thomme. Hypocorism of Thomas. The dollar-bill sense is from the portrait of Thomas Jefferson featured on it.

Tom (plural Toms)

1. A diminutive of the male given name Thomas, also used as a formal male given name.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     Poor Tom's a-cold.

   • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VI, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 70:

     "Good,—that's a whack. What's your name?"
     "Becky Thatcher. What's yours? Oh, I know. It's Thomas Sawyer."
     "That's the name they lick me by. I'm Tom when I'm good. You call me Tom, will you?"

   • 1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves:

     What I'm worrying about is what Tom says when he starts talking."
     "Uncle Tom?"
     "I wish there was something else you could call him except 'Uncle Tom'," said Aunt Dahlia a little testily. "Every time you do it, I expect to see him turn black and start playing the banjo."

   • 2008, David Park, The Truth Commissioner, →ISBN, page 366:

     "We're not sure - we were expecting a girl for some reason. But we're thinking of something simple like Tom."
     "Thomas?"
     "No, just Tom."

   • 2025 February 7, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Curt Devine, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Rene Marsh, “‘Second American Revolution’: The team behind DOGE’s government overhaul”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     At the heart of much of the controversy surrounding DOGE’s review and access to much of the federal government’s financial payment data was the unique pairing of Tom Krause, a long-time software CEO, and Marko Elez, a 25-year-old recent employee at Musk’s company SpaceX.

2. A nickname for a common man. [since 1377]

• → Tokelauan: Toma

Tom (plural Toms)

1. (uncommon) Ellipsis of Uncle Tom.
   • 2007 April, Roy DeBerry, Aviva Futorian, Stephen Klein, John Lyons, quoting Jessie Mae Epps, “Beginnings”, in Voices from the Mississippi Hill Country: The Benton County Civil Rights Movement, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, published 2020, →ISBN, page 8:

     I thought it was nice for them [civil rights volunteers] to come in here. But they wasn’t welcome among white people. The black people welcomed them with open arms, but they wasn’t welcomed by the white people. And the churches began to burn: Everetts Chapel and Union Hill. I’ll be honest and tell you the truth, I was a little afraid sometimes, depending on where the meeting was. It looked like the group was pushing forward and I didn’t want to be a “Tom.”

2. (US, numismatic slang, rare) A United States two-dollar bill.

   Synonyms: Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson

   • [1981, Ralph DeSola, Abbreviations Dictionary, expanded international 6th edition, New York, N.Y.: Elsevier, →ISBN, page 804, column 2:

     Toms: two-dollar bills bearing the portrait of President Thomas Jefferson]

   • 2003 June 12, PossumTrot, “Treasury to Print More $2 Bills:)”, in rec.collecting.paper-money‎^[2] (Usenet), archived from the original on 22 June 2025:

     The article on CNN.com says the Treasury has $96 million in $2s in their vaults. They are printing new ones just to assure a supply. The new ones will be 2003 series with the same design as now. Printing more will have no direct effect on whether they circulate more, but articles like the recent ones will make people aware that they are still available. I'm picking up another strap of Toms tomorrow, hopefully crisp new - at least that what I asked the vault teller to order.

   • 2003 August 29, rhodo chrosite, “2 dollar bills”, in rec.collecting.paper-money‎^[3] (Usenet), archived from the original on 22 June 2025:

     In the past year I've spent over 2000 Toms with 90% used to well used. I have only seen a dozen or so with torn corners, almost always the upper left corner.

   • 2003 December 25, DyzeeGF3, “[FA] 1995 Star Twos and other goodies”, in rec.collecting.paper-money‎^[4] (Usenet), archived from the original on 22 June 2025:

     > I've listed some goodies on eBay. Some 1999 Two BEP bundles (including a Star bundle
     > with the striped wrapper) and a 2003 Two BEP bundle with a neat serial number.
     Whoops, you mean '95 Toms

   • 2007 May 10, Fred Shecter, “A Teller That Likes $2 Bills :)”, in rec.collecting.paper-money‎^[5] (Usenet), archived from the original on 22 June 2025:

     Join the discussion on www.wheresgeorge.com and then join the "Top Toms" club.

   • [2023, Thomas S. Hischak, “Chicago”, in Broadway Decoded: Musical Theatre’s Forgotten References, Lanham, Md.: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, →ISBN, page 51:

     A two-dollar bill is sometimes referred to as a “deuce” or a “Tom.”]

   • 2024, Megan Gorman, “Introduction”, in All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money, New York, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.: Regalo Press, →ISBN, note 9:

     For a fun history of the challenges of the $2 bill, check out St. Louis Bank Historian Mary Piles’ article at https://www.cnbstl.com/about-us/news/the-history-of-the-two-dollar-bill. Wouldn’t it have been fun if “Toms” had become more mainstream in their usage?

• United States two-dollar bill on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Variant of TOM (“time of the month”) influenced by the name.

Tom (uncountable)

1. (euphemistic, personification) Synonym of menstruation.

   Sorry, maybe next week. Uncle Tom is visiting.

   Maybe later. Tom is in town.

• curse of Tom

Possibly onomatopoeia, conflated with the given name, given the practice of giving objects such as Big Ben human names. Alternatively, it may derive from an inscription on the old bell used as metal to make the Great Tom of Oxford in 1680: In Thomæ laude resono bim bom sine fraude.^[1]

Tom

1. A large, deep-toned bell, or a particularly notable example of one. [since 17th century]
   • 1857, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, “Something about bells”, in Chambers's Journal, volume 28, number 207, page 398:

     They had a thick rim, and when struck with pieces of wood, gave out a tone deeper than that of some of the Great Toms renowned in belldom.

   • 1857, “An earthquake in Honduras”, in Harper's Magazine:

     After these came innumerable little boys bearing little bells, which made little noises in comparison to the "Big Tom" that preceded them.

   • 1825, Moncrieff, "A Parish-Clerk was Johnny Bell", The Universal Songster (in a song about a man who hangs himself in the bell tower):

     And there little Johnny Bell hung dangling along with the great Tom bell, and all the rest of the bells.

   • 1848, “The book auction of New York”, in The Literary World:

     The city [New York] does not know a better auctioneer; the celebrated Tom Bell not ringing clearer.

• tom-tom

• MOT, Mot, OMT, OTM, TMO, mot

Tom (definite accusative Tomu, plural Tomlar)

1. a male given name from English

Borrowed from English Tom.

Tom

1. a male given name from English

• Audio:

  (file)

Tom ?

1. a male given name

Borrowed from English Tom.

• Audio:

  (file)

Tom

1. a male given name from English

From English Tom. Taken to regular use as a given name in Norway in the 20th century.

Tom

1. a male given name

• Tomas
• Tommy

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• [6] Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 15 517 males with the given name Tom living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1950s. Accessed on April 29th, 2011.

• Homophone: tom (Brazil)

Tom m

1. a diminutive of the male given name Antônio, equivalent to English Tony

Borrowed from English Tom.

Tom c (genitive Toms)

1. a male given name from English

• mot