Pronunciation Noun
token (plural tokens)
- Something serving as an expression of something else.
- Synonyms: sign, symbol
- According to the Bible, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant with Noah.
- A keepsake.
- Synonyms: memento, souvenir
- Please accept this bustier as a token of our time together.
- A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.
- Subway tokens are being replaced by magnetic cards.
- A book token is the easiest option for a Christmas gift.
- (obsolete, sometimes, figurative) Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
- Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.
- Synonyms: reason, reasoning
- An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.
- Synonyms: miracle
- An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.
- Synonyms: password
- A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
- Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
- ca. 1605, William Shakespeare, Measure fir Measure, Act IV, sc. 3:
- Say, by this token, I desire his company.
- 1611, King James Version, Exodus 3:12:
- And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
- ca. 1605, William Shakespeare, Measure fir Measure, Act IV, sc. 3:
- A tally.
- (philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.
- (computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.
- Synonyms: symbol
- cot en
- 2004, Randall Hyde, Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine, page 68
- For each lexeme, the scanner creates a small data package known as a token and passes this data package on to the parser.
- (computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.
- (computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.
- (grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.
- (corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.
- Antonyms: type
- (medical) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.
- (medical, obsolete) A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.
- (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “Valentinian”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 5, scene 4:
- Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere fore-runners of their ends.
- (printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
- (mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.
- (mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.
- (rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.
- (weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.
- (Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.
- French: symbole
- German: Zeichen, Symbol
- Italian: simbolo, segno
- Portuguese: símbolo, sinal
- Russian: знак
- Spanish: seña
- German: Andenken, Souvenir, Erinnerung
- Portuguese: lembrança
- Russian: сувени́р
- Spanish: recuerdo
token
- Done as an indication or a pledge; perfunctory, minimal or merely symbolic.
- He made a token tap on the brake pedal at the stop sign.
- 1927, Arthur Robert Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times, page 393
- If the as had been reduced to a token in 240 BC, it was now a little more token than before.
- 2000, Cheris Kramarae, Dale Spender, Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Page 176
- There are still many churches where the participation of women is token.
- 2008, Adrian Blomfield, The Daily Telegraph, Has Russia got a new Stalin? ↗, March 31, 2008
- Just to be on the safe side, the The Kremlin has also banned any of Putin’s serious critics from standing. Three unelectable misfits have been allowed to mount token challenges.
- a minor attempt for appearance sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement
- he was hired as the company's token black person
- the television show was primarily directed toward a black audience, but it did have a few token white people as performers
- French: symbolique
- Portuguese: simbólico
- Russian: символи́ческий
- Spanish: simbólico
token (tokens, present participle tokening; past and past participle tokened)
- To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
- 1398, in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press 1962, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:
- dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ʒelouʒ colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & liʒt red tokeneþ mene.
- 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin 2010, p. 149:
- The instinct revolted against the inevitable punishment to come, already tokened by those big holes now met in walls and crossings.
- 1398, in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press 1962, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:
- To betroth
- (philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate
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