1890. Cent. Dict., s.v. Tote. Origin unknown; usually said to be an African word introduced by Southern negroes, but the African words which have come into English use through Southern negroes are few and doubtful . . . and do not include verbs.
Toter, subs. (old colloquial).—A
piper [Gifford: a low term].
1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 3. His name was Vadian, and a cunning toter.
Tother (Tone), indef. prons.
(once literary: now vulgar).—The
other; the one (The = thet,
the old neuter article); tone
and tother = both; tother-*emmy
= the others.
[12[?]. Old Eng. Homilies, 2 S. 175. Þat on is Seint Peter and þat oðer is Seint Andrew.]
1340. Hampole, Prose Treat. [E.E.T.S.], 29. Thou sulde doo bathe . . . the tane and the tother.
1360. Chaucer, Rom. of Rose, 5559. The toon yeveth conysaunce, And the tother ignoraunce.
1380. Wyclif, Bible, Luke xvi. 13. He schal hate oon, and loue the tother.
[?]. MS. Cantab., Ff. ii. 38. f. 74. The tother day on the same wyse, As the kynge fro the borde can ryse.
1550. Tyndale [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 429. Tyndale sometimes, like his enemy More, uses the old form of 1180, 'the tone, the tother.']
1551. More, Worship of Images, 'Utopia,' Int. xci. Many other thinges touchyng the pestilent secte of Luther and Tyndale, by the tone bygone in Saxony: and by the tother laboured to be brought into England.
1565-7. Golding, Ovid, 'Pref.,' sign. A7. And where the tone gives place, There still the other presseth in his place. Ibid., ii. 9. So was Licaon made a woolfe; and Jove became a bull, The tone for using crueltie, the tother for his trull.
1573. Tusser, Good Husbandrie, 145. [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 583. The old the tone (here followed by the tother) is contracted into tone.]
d. 1586. Sir P. Sydney, Harington's Ariosto, Notes, Bxi. As far from want, as far from vaine expence; Tone doth enforce, the other doth entice.
1591. Harington, Ariost., i. 18. And that with force, with cunning, nor with paine, The tone of them could make the other yield.
1727. Gay, Beggars' Opera, ii. 2. How happy could I be with either, Were t'other dear charmer away.
One with other, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation: see Greens and Ride.
T'other-day, subs. phr. (common).—Spec.
the day before
yesterday, but frequently used in
an indefinite sense.
T'other School, subs. phr. (Winchester).—1.
One's former school;
(2) any school not a public school.
As adj. = non-licet (q.v.), or
unbecoming because more or less
alien to Winchester. T'other-un
(Charterhouse) = a private
school.
T'other-sider, subs. phr. (Victoria:
now rare).—A convict:
see Sidney-sider.
Totter, verb. (Old Cant).—To
hang; to swing on the gallows.
1630. Fletcher, Night-Walker, iii. 3. I would lose a limb to see their rogueships totter.
Totterarse, subs. (provincial).—Seesaw.
Tottery, adj. (colloquial).—Shaky;
unsteady: also tottlish
(or totty). Hence tottle,
verb = to walk unsteadily;
totty-headed = giddy, hare-brained
(B. E. and Grose); tot
= a simpleton: see Buffle.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Reeve's Tale,' 333. Myn heed is toty of my swynk to-night.
