teetotum
English
Alternative forms
- tetotum, T-totum, tee-totem
Etymology 1
From Latin totum (“all”), marked by a T on one of the four sides.
Noun
teetotum (plural teetotums)
- (historical) A toy (spinning top) similar to a dreidel.
- 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Tom-all-alone’s”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 157:
- The town awakes; the great tee-totum is set up for its daily spin and whirl; […]
- 1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Wool and Water”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, 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."
- 1893, “First You're Born”, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music):
- Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho/Time's teetotum/If you spin it/Gives it quotum...
Etymology 2
Noun
teetotum (plural teetotums)
- (historical) A working men's club conducted under religious influences, as an alternative to drinking in the saloon.