1830-5. [Walsh, Lit. Curios, 1049.] It is said that Richard Turner, an English temperance orator, who had an impediment in his speech, would invariably speak of t-t-total abstinence.
1843. Carlton, New Purchase, ii. 245. Stranger, I'm powerful sorry, but we're teetotally out: he took every bit of food with him.
1843-4. Haliburton, Attaché, xii. The meetin' houses on one side of the water, how teetotally different they be!
1856. Dow, Sermons, 1. I wouldn't have you think that I am teetotally opposed to dancing in every shape, for the reason that I used to heel and toe it a trifle myself, when young.
d. 1859. De Quincey, Dinner, etc. Dinner was an ugly little parenthesis between two still uglier clauses of a teetotally ugly sentence.
1861. Thackeray [in Cornhill Mag., iv. 758]. This giant had quite a small appetite . . . and was also a tea-*totaller.
1882. Smyth-Palmer, Folk Etymology, 385. Tea-totalers, an occasional misprint of tee-totalers, as if it meant those who were totally for tea. It is more likely to be an intensive reduplication . . . as in tip-top for first-rate. Ibid., 655. It may be noted that tee-total is the reduplication of a reduplication.
Teetotal Hotel (The), subs. phr.
(thieves').—A prison.
Teignton-squash, subs. phr.
(provincial).—Perry.
1834. Southey, Doctor, Interchapter, xvi. Cokaghee or foxwhelp, a beverage as much better than champagne as it is honester, wholesomer, and cheaper. Or Perry, the Teignton-Squash. These are right old English liquors, and I like them all.
Teize. See Tease.
Tejus, adv. (vulgar).—Tedious;
extremely; wearyingly, tiresomely:
e.g., tejus good, bad, quick,
slow, etc.
Telegraph. See Milk and
Underground.
Telescope, verb. (Australian).—To
silence.
Tell, subs. (American).—A story;
a bon mot; spec. one worth
telling. Also, according to
their tell = 'Upon their
making out.'
1743. Walpole, To Mann, 4 Ap. There, I am at the end of my tell! If I write on, it must be to ask questions.
18[?]. Betsy Bobbet, 101. I told Josiah that, accordin' to their tell, I had got every disease under the sun, unless it was the horse-distemper.
18[?]. Humphreys, Yankee in England. In his dealings with the other sex, he is a little twistical, according to their tell.
1882. Eggleston (Century, xxxv. 44]. Little Barb'ry's the very flower of the flock, accordin' to my tell.
See Marines; Noses; Tales.
Tell-clock, subs. phr. (old).—An
idler.
d. 1639. Ward, Sermons, 131. Is there no mean between busy-bodies and tell-clocks, between factotums and faineants?
Teller, subs. (pugilists').—A well-delivered
blow; anything that
scores; hence telling (colloquial)
= effective, to the point.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Ven luckily for Jem a teller Vos planted right upon his smeller.
1832. Emerson, Burns. Not Latimer, not Luther, struck more telling blows against false theology than did this brave singer.
1888. Academy, 1 Dec. 345. Put tellingly and persuasively.
2. See Tailor.
Tell-tale, subs. phr. (nautical).—An
inverted compass fixed in a
cabin. Also (general) any recording
device: usually automatic:
e.g., a turnstile, an organ bellows-indicator,
etc.
