To-DO, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Ado; a fuss; a commotion; a set-out: cf. Fr. affaire (à faire).
1330. Romance of Seven Sages [Weber, iii. 73]. Make moche to done.
1675. Evelyn, Diary, 22 Mar. 'What a to-do is here!' would he say; 'I can lie in straw with as much satisfaction.'
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 1. What's here to do? O the Father! A man with her! . . . O you young harlotry.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick, iv. The next day there was another visit to Doctors' Commons, and a great to-do with an attesting ostler.
Toe, verb (common).—1. To kick: e.g. 'I'll TOE your bum for you.'
2. (colloquial).—To reach (or touch) with the toes: e.g. to TOE A LINE (A MARK, or THE scratch) = (1) to stand at attention (or at the start); (2) = to be fully prepared for a struggle or contest; (3) to come up to one's obligations; and (4) to border on.
1835. Dana, Before Mast, xiv. He was a man to toe the mark, and to make every one else step up to it.
1857. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. iv. The customary 'flapper-shaking' before toeing the scratch for business.
1881. Burroughs, Pepacton, 244. Then more meadow-land . . . and then the little grey school-house itself toeing the highway.
Phrases. To turn up the TOES = to die: see HOP THE TWIG; TO TREAD ON ONE'S toes = (1) to vex; and (2) to interfere.
1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, xxiv. Several arbalestriers turned their toes up.
1868-9. Browning, Ring and Book, 1. 130. He could not turn about Nor take a step i' the case, and fail to tread On some one's toes.
1900. Savage, Brought to Bay, vii. I only hope that he will soon turn up his toes was the wrathful speculator's adjuration.
Toe-fit-tie, subs. phr. (Winchester: obsolete).—See quot.
1881. Felstedian, Nov., 84. It was that brute Awho 'to-fitti-ed' me last night . . . Let me explain . . . it is nothing more or less than the commencement of a line in the old, familiar, 'As in præsenti perfectum format in avi' . . . 'to fit-ti,' in reference to verbs of the third conjugation transferred from the similarity of sound to the schoolboy's toe; it consisted in tying a running noose on a piece of string, cunningly turning up the bedclothes at the foot, putting it round the big toe of an unconscious sleeper, running the noose up tight, and pulling till the victim followed the direction of the string from the pain getting farther out of bed, and nearer the floor till released.
Toe-ragger, subs. phr. (Australian).—A term of contempt: cf. Toey.
1896. Truth (Sydney), 12 Jan. The bushie's favourite term of opprobrium 'a toe-ragger' is Maori. . . . The nastiest term of contempt was tua rika rika, or slave. The old whalers on the Maoriland coast in their anger called each other toe-riggers, and to-day the word in the form of toe-ragger has spread thoughout the whole of the South Seas.
TOEY, subs. (Australian).—A swell; a toff (q.v.): a New South Wales localism.
Toff, subs. (common).—1. A gentleman, a fop, a swell (q.v.): cf. Toft and Tuft; (2) = a superior, a man of grit. Hence TOFFER = a fashionable whore; tofficky = dressy, showy, GRITTY (q.V.): TOFFISHNESS = SIDE (q.V.).
c. 1868. Arthur Lloyd, Music Hall Song, 'The Shoreditch Toff' [Title].
1868. Temple Bar, xxiv. 538. 9. Moll . . . a flashtail . . . who goes about the streets at night trying to pick up TOFFS.
