| 释义 |
▪ I. teetotum, n.1|tiːˈtəʊtəm|
Forms: 8 T totum, 8–9 te(-)totum, tee(-)totum, 9 (erron.) te-totum, tee-to-tum; see also totum.
[Orig. T totum, formed by prefixing to L. tōtum ‘all, the whole’, its initial T, which stood for it on one of the four sides of the toy (itself in earlier use called simply a totum, as in 17th c. French totum, now toton).]
1. a. A small four-sided disk or die having an initial letter inscribed on each of its sides, and a spindle passing down through it by which it could be twirled or spun with the fingers like a small top, the letter which lay uppermost, when it fell, deciding the fortune of the player; now, any light top (sometimes a circular disk pierced by a short peg), spun with the fingers, used as a toy.
The letters were originally the initials of Latin words, viz. T totum, A aufer, D depone, N nihil. Subsequently they were the initials of English words, T being interpreted as take-all: see quot. 1801. On the French totum or toton, the letters are T, A, D, R, meaning, according to Littré, Totum, tout, Accipe, prends, Da, donne, Rien (nothing).
1720De Foe Life D. Campbell (1841) 50 A very fine ivory T totum, as children call it. 1778F. Burney Evelina (1791) II. xxxvii. 245 And turn round like a tetotum. 1800Sporting Mag. XV. 48 A man was lately convicted..for selling a teetotum. 1801Strutt Sports & Past iv. iv. 341 When I was a boy the te-totum had only four sides, each of them marked with a letter; a T for take all; an H for half, that is, of the stake; an N for nothing; and a P for put down, that is, a stake equal to that you put down at first. 1818Moore Fudge Fam. Paris v. 23 Though, like a tee⁓totum, I'm all in a twirl, Yet even (as you wittily say) a tee⁓totum Between all its twirls gives a letter to note 'em. 1893W. S. Gilbert Utopia 11, She'll waltz away like a teetotum.
b. fig. (a) Sc. and Ir. A very little person. (b) Something very unsteady.
1822Galt Sir A. Wylie III. xxvi. 221, I didna think Miss Mary would ever tak sic a tee totum. 1860Thackeray Round. Papers, Week's Holiday 223 Who knows how long that dear teetotum happiness can be made to spin without toppling over? 1922Joyce Ulysses 759 Comical little teetotum always stuck up in some pub corner and her or her son waiting.
2. A game of chance played with this device.
1753Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 65/1 Continue to divert ourselves at all fours, brag, cribbidge, tetotum, &c. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xiv, O'Grady gruffly broke in with ‘You'd better ask him, does he love teetotum’.
3. attrib. and Comb., whirling like the top.
1819Metropolis II. 97 Mrs. S—m-r's tetotum-like turn, not without grace or activity, but with a sportive kind of oddity. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. x. 258 His own teetotum brain is upset.
Hence teeˈtotum, teeˈtotumize vbs., intr. to spin like a teetotum, to gyrate; teeˈtotumism (nonce-wd.), the condition of being ‘in a whirl’ like a teetotum; teeˈtotumwise adv., in the manner of a teetotum.
1831Moore Summer Fête 556 No blither nymph *te⁓totumed round To Collinet's immortal strain. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 199 If that wretch, the current..did not grab hold of the nose of my canoe, and we teetotummed.
1841T. Noel Rymes & Roundelays 212 Brother bards..Ye, who..Set your brains *tetotum-izing.
1813W. Bull in Mem. xvi. (1864) 350 The whirligigism of your situation,—I might have said the *teetotumism, for I think your brain must very much resemble a teetotum.
1881Daily News 1 Feb. 5/4 The Mevliveeyeh, profanely called Dancing Dervishes, still revolve *teetotum-wise.
▪ II. teeˈtotum, n.2
[A whimsical formation from teetotal, app. after prec.]
A teetotal or temperance restaurant.
1891Independent 10 Apr. 233/3 There is little to distinguish ‘the Teetotum’ from the ordinary Coffee Tavern or Temperance Club except the peculiarity of being ‘a tied house’. 1892Daily News 24 June 2/8 His Royal Highness..expressed satisfaction..at the starting of ‘tee-to-tums’, or temperance restaurants. 1895Westm. Gaz. 7 Jan. 7/1 A kind of cross between the Gothenburg system and the Tee-to-tum scheme. |