toco for yam

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

See toco (“corporal punishment”); but the construction is uncertain and has been variously explained in slang dictionaries. It may have the sense of one thing given for another in retribution (like tit for tat), or may suggest a beating given instead of food (yam being food in West Indian pidgin).

Noun

toco for yam (uncountable)

  1. (UK, slang, obsolete) Retribution; punishment.

References

  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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