Tubbing, subs. (thieves').—1. Imprisonment.
2. See Tub.
Tubman, subs. (old legal).—See
quot. [The old Exchequer Court
is now merged in the High Court
of Justice, but the appointments
are still made.]
1765-9. Blackstone, Com., 111. iii. Note. In the courts of exchequer, two of the most experienced barristers, called the post-man and the tub-man (from the places in which they sit), have also a precedence in motions.
Tubby, subs. (Christ's Hospital).—1.
A male servant of the school:
his business was the care of the
latrine tubs: the name is still
retained for the lavatory-man.
2. (common).—A big-bellied man; fatty (q.v.); forty-guts (q.v.). As adj. (or tubbish) = round-bellied, swag-bellied: like a tub.
1796. Wolcot, Works, 136. You look for men whose heads are rather tubbish, Or drum-like, better formed for sound than sense.
1836. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 'Mr. John Dounce.' He was a short, round, large-faced, tubbish sort of man. Ibid., 'Monmouth Street.' We had seen him coming up to Covent Garden in his green chaise-cart with the fat tubby little horse.
1901. Troddles, 36. A tubby and short-winded keeper.
1902. Free Lance, 11 Oct., 44. 1. I was particular to find out whether the double-breasted lounge was a favourite among short and 'tubby' men.
Tubs, subs. (common). A butter-*man.
Tuck, subs. (common).—1. Generic
for edibles; (2) = an appetite:
spec. (schools') pastry, sweet-stuff,
and the like. Whence
tuck-shop = a pastrycook's;
tuck-parcel = (Charterhouse) a
hamper from home: nearly
obsolete. Also (Australian)
tucker = (1) food, grub (q.v.),
spec. (2) barely sufficient on
which to live, 'bare bread-and-cheese.'
As verb (or to tuck in)
= to eat heartily: tuck-in (or
tuck-out) = a 'square meal.'
[Cf. tack = generic for food, and
which, at Sherborne School, = a
feast in one's study].
1840. A. Bunn, Stage, 1. 295. Nothing can stop the mouth of a tuck-hunter.
1847-8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, v. His father . . . gave him two guineas publicly, most of which he spent in a general tuck-out for the school.
1856. Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, 1. vi. Come along down to Sally Harrowell's; that's our school-house tuck-shop. She bakes such stunning murphies. Ibid., 1. v. The slogger looks rather sodden, as if he didn't take much exercise and ate too much tuck.
1858. M. Chron., 31 Aug. Diggers, who have great difficulty in making their tucker at digging.
1873. Greenwood, In Strange Company. A tuck-out, which in Hale's Street is short and simple language for as much as can be eaten.
1874. Garnet Walch, Head over Heels, 73. For want of more nourishing tucker, I believe they'd have eaten him.
1875. Wood and Lapham, Waiting for the Mail, 33. We heard of big nuggets, but only made tucker.
1886. D. Teleg., 1 Jan. They set me down to a jolly good tuck-in of bread and meat.
1890. Argus, 14 June, 14. 1. When a travelling man sees a hut ahead, he knows there's water inside, and tucker and tea.
1890. St. Nicholas, xviii. 125. What a tuck-out I had.
1891. Boldrewood, Sydney-side Saxon, 83. I took my meal in the hut, but we'd both the same kind of tucker.
1899. Whiteing, John St., iii. You get your tuck-in Sundays. Lord, give me a reg'lar sixpence every day for grub, and I'd warrant I'd never starve.
