1877. Diprose, London Life. I've been doing awful dab with my tol, haven't made a yennep.
See Toledo.
Told. I told you so, phr. (old).—The
retort provocant: in
modern phrase, 'So like a woman
to say, "I told you so!"'
1412. Occleve, De Reg. Princ. (Roxburgh), 26. I tolde hym so.
1609. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 2. True. I told you so, sir, and you would not believe me. Mor. Alas, do not rub those wounds . . . to blood again.
To be told, verb. phr. (Tonbridge School).—To obtain one's colours in a school team.
Toledo (or Tol), subs. (old).—A
sword-blade: manufactured
at Toledo in Spain, whence
in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
came the finest tempered
weapons: cf. Fox. Hence a
rum-tol = a silver-hilted sword;
a queer-tol = a very ordinary
weapon (B. E. and Grose).
1596. Jonson, Ev. Man in Humour, iii. 1. A most perfect Toledo, I assure you, sir . . . This a Toledo, pish!
1612. Webster, White Devil, v. 2. O what blade is't? A Toledo, or an English fox?
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. His tol by his side, and his pops in his pocket.
Tolerable, adj. (colloquial).—In
fair health; pretty well: cf.
Toll-ollish.
1847. Bronté, Jane Eyre, xxvi. We're tolerable, sir, I thank you.
Toll. To take toll, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To pilfer; to 'pick
and steal': cf. custom of millers
taking a portion of grain as compensation
for grinding. Also to
get (or take) more than a proper
share.
[1596. Shakspeare, King John, iii. 1. 154. No Italian priest shall tithe or toll in our dominion.]
1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 42. His hand shook . . . the table-cloth and napkin took toll [of soup].
Tolliban Rig, subs. phr. (old).—'A
species of cheat carried on by
a woman, assuming the character
of a dumb and deaf conjuror'
(Grose).
Tol-loll (or Tol-lollish), adj.
phr. (common).—Tolerable;
pretty good; 'nothing to grumble
at.'
18[?]. Gilbert [Encyclop. Dict.]. Lord Nelson, too, was pretty well—That is, tol-lol-ish!
1901. Free Lance, 20 Sep., 4. 3. Oh, I feel tol-lollish enough to go through with that little bit of circus business.
Tolly, subs. (public schools').—1.
A candle: spec. a 'tallow'
candle. To tolly up (Harrow) = to
light candles surreptitiously
after the gas has been put out.
Cf. Brolly, Yolly, etc.
2. (Stonyhurst).—The flat instrument used in caning the hand: also taps. Hence tolly-shop = a Præfect's room where corporal punishment is administered; and tolly-ticket = a good conduct card, given as a reward for specially good work, which, presented when punishment is ordered, secures immunity except for too grave an offence. [This system of accumulated merit, now almost obsolete, is precisely similar to one described by Mr. Kegan Paul in his Memories as existent at Eton in the forties.]
The Tolly (Rugby).—See
quot. and sense 1.
