English
tosh
see also: TOSH, Tosh
Pronunciation Noun

tosh

  1. (British, obsolete slang, uncountable) Copper; items made of copper
    • 1851, H. Mayhew, London labour and the London poor, II. 150/2
      The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called by the name of Toshers, the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along shore being known among themselves by the general term ‘tosh’, a word more particularly applied by them to anything made of copper.
  2. (chiefly, British, uncommon slang, uncountable) Valuables retrieved from sewers and drains
    • 1974, J. Aiken, Midnight is Place, v. 164
      I am present engaged in fishing for tosh in the sewers of Blastburn.
  3. (chiefly, British, slang, uncountable) Rubbish, trash, (now) especially in the sense of nonsense, bosh, balderdash
    • 1892 October 26, Oxford University Magazine, 26/1
      To think what I've gone through to hear that man! Frightful tosh it'll be, too.
    • 1911, H. G. Wells, The New Machiavelli, ch. 5,
      Perhaps it helped a man into Parliament, Parliament still being a confused retrogressive corner in the world where lawyers and suchlike sheltered themselves from the onslaughts of common-sense behind a fog of Latin and Greek and twaddle and tosh.
    • 1997, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, iv
      ‘Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore’s orders. Brought yeh ter this lot...’
      ‘Load of old tosh,’ said Uncle Vernon.
  4. (UK, archaic school slang, countable) A bath or foot pan
    • 1881, Leathes in C.E. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools, ii. 20
      A ‘tosh’ pan... is also provided.
    • 1905, H. A. Vachell, Hill, i
      We call a tub a tosh.
  5. (cricket, slang, disparaging, uncountable) Easy bowling
    • 1898 June 25, Tit-Bits, 252/3
      Among the recent neologisms of the cricket field is ‘tosh’, which means bowling of contemptible easiness.
  6. (UK, jocular slang, uncountable) Used as a form of address.
    • 1954, E. Hyams, Stories & Cream, 175
      'Ere, tosh, you bin at Cha'ham?
Synonyms Translations Verb

tosh (toshes, present participle toshing; past and past participle toshed)

  1. (British, obsolete slang) To steal copper, particularly from ship hulls
    • 1867, W. H. Smyth, Sailor's Word-book
    • Toshing, a cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels' bottoms, or from dock-yard stores.
  2. (chiefly, British, uncommon slang) To search for valuables in sewers
    • 1974, J. Aiken, Midnight is Place, vi. 180
      You tend to the toshing, let Mester Hobday tend to the dealing.
  3. (UK, archaic school slang) To use a tosh-pan, either to wash, to splash, or to "bath"
    • 1883, J.P. Groves, From Cadet to Captain, iii. 227
      ‘Toshing’ was the name given to a punishment inflicted by the cadets on any one of their number who made himself obnoxious. The victim, dressed in full uniform, was forced to run the gauntlet of his brother cadets, who, as he passed, emptied the contents of their ‘tosh-cans’ (small baths holding about three gallons of water) over the wretched lad's head.
    • 1903, J. S. Farmer & al., Slang, VII. 171/1
      He toshed his house beak by mistake, and got three hundred.
Adjective

tosh (comparative tosher, superlative toshest)

  1. (Scotland, obsolete) Tight.
    • 1776, D. Herd, Ancient & Modern Scottish Songs
      Tosh, tight, neat.
  2. (Scotland) Neat, clean; tidy, trim.
  3. (Scotland) Comfortable, agreeable; friendly, intimate.
    • 1821, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 10 4
      We were a very tosh and agreeable company.
Adverb

tosh

  1. (Scotland) Toshly: neatly, tidily
    • 1808, J. Mayne, Siller Gun, i. 20
      Shouther your arms!—O! had them tosh on, And not athraw!
Verb

tosh (toshes, present participle toshing; past and past participle toshed)

  1. (Scotland) To make ‘tosh’: to tidy, to trim.
    • 1826 November, J. Wilson, Noctes Ambrosianae, xxix, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 788
      Hoo she wad try to tosh up... her breest.
Noun

tosh

  1. (British, obsolete slang, countable) A half-crown coin; its value
    • 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, xxix
      ‘’Ere y’are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. A tosheroon [half a crown] for the coat, two ’ogs for the trousers, one and a tanner for the boots, and a ’og for the cap and scarf. That’s seven bob.’
    • 1961, J. Maclaren-Ross, Doomsday Book, i. v. 63
      Here's a tosh to buy yourself some beer.
  2. (British, obsolete slang, countable) A crown coin; its value
  3. (British, archaic slang, uncountable) Any money, particularly pre-decimalization British coinage
TOSH
Proper noun
  1. Acronym of The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital
Tosh
Proper noun
  1. Surname
Proper noun
  1. A Hassidic community
  2. Ellipsis of Kiryas Tosh; A neighbourhood in Boisbriand, Quebec
  3. Synonym of Nyirtass#English|Nyirtass Nyírtass; A village in Hungary
Translations
  • French: Tash, Tosh, Tass, Nyírtass
  • German: Tass, Tash, Tausch, Nyírtass
Translations
  • French: Tash, Tosh


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