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Thomas|ˈtɒməs|
[a. L. Thōmās, Gr. θωµᾶς.]
1. A Greek, Latin, and common Christian name; well known as that of the ‘doubting apostle’ (see John xx. 25), and hence used allusively; also used as a representative proper name for one of the populace taken at random. Familiarly abbreviated to Tom n.1, the dim. or pet form of which is Tommy1.
c1000Ags. Gosp. John xx. 24 Thomas an of þam twelfon þe ys ᵹecweden didimus..næs mid him þa se hælend com. c1275O.E. Misc. 90 Haly thomas of heoue[n]riche. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 5080 Ȝe, so I drede me, by seynt Thomas. c1620Robinson Mary Magd. 1519 O, that I might, with wauering Thomas, dippe The finger of my faith within his side. 1656Blount Glossogr., Thomas (Hebr.) signifies twin, or as some will have it, bottomlesse deep. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xii, Mary, don't let my being an unbelieving Thomas weaken your faith. 1883Harper's Mag. June 93/1 Doubting Thomases, who will only believe what they see, must wait awhile.
2. Generic name for a footman or waiter.
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 78 The gossip of one fashionable dinner-table alone, within ear-shot of three or four first-rate Thomases, is sufficient to disperse throughout the town rumours enough to set a hundred families of consideration into a ferment. 1901Daily Graphic 23 Feb., The ‘men’ are not any less ‘splendid’ because they are known by this diminutive term [Tommy], any more than waiters are heroic because we give them their full title of ‘Thomas’.
3. Thomas Atkins (also Thomas): a familiar name for the typical private soldier in the British Army; arising out of the casual use of this name in the specimen forms given in the official regulations from 1815 onward: see quots.
In some of the specimen forms other names are used; but ‘Thomas Atkins’ being that used in all the forms for privates in the Cavalry or Infantry, is by far the most frequent, and thus became the most familiar. Now more popularly Tommy Atkins or Tommy1 q.v.
1815(Aug. 31) War Office, Collection of Orders, Regulations, etc. 75 (Form of a Soldier's Book in the Cavalry when filled up). Description, Service, &c. of Thomas Atkins, Private, No. 6 Troop, 6th Regt. of Dragoons. Where Born... Parish of Odiham, Hants... Bounty, {pstlg}6. Received, Thomas Atkins, his x mark. Ibid. 76 Clothing Account of Thomas Atkins, Private, No. 6 Troop, 6th Dragoons... Clothing Account of William Jones, Trumpeter, No. 2 Troop, 9th Light Dragoons... Clothing Account of John Thomas, Serjeant, No. 8 Troop, 15th Hussars. [So Forms on pp. 78–81 all ‘Thomas Atkins, Private’.] Ibid. 82 Form of Soldier's Book in the Infantry, when filled up. Description, Service, etc. of Thomas Atkins, Private, No. 6 Company, 1st Batt. 23d Regt. Foot. Where born [etc.]... Bounty {pstlg}7 7s. Received, Thomas Atkins, his x mark. [So Forms on pp. 83–87, all signed ‘Thomas Atkins, his x mark’.] 1837(June 1) King's Regulations & Orders for the Army 204, Form No. 2, No. 55 Thomas Atkins, Serjeant, Born in the Parish of St. Mary in or near the Town of Portsmouth, in the County of Hants, by Trade a Labourer. Ibid. 206–9 [Various Forms, all filled up or subscribed ‘Thomas Atkins’ (who no longer signs by ‘his mark’)]. Ibid. 210 Character: Thomas Atkins has been a well-conducted Soldier; was wounded at ―, and has distinguished himself by several acts of bravery. Signed ―, Commanding Officer. 1864Stand. Orders Roy. Reg. Artill. 89 Thomas Atkins. Enlisted..on the 9th April, 1857. Ibid., We certify that the above is a correct Statement of the Services of Thomas Atkins, to the 10th June 1887. 1888Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) I. 185 Every Thomas is interesting, except when he is too drunk to speak. 1890Times 6 Dec. 12/4 Mr. Thomas Atkins..can break it [a rifle] down in half-a-dozen ways in the course of his musketry instruction. 1897Allahabad Pioneer in Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 7/3 ‘You take my advice, Bill’, remarked one Thomas to another,..‘don't you never stand near no white stone or yet near no horcifer’.
4. St. Thomas', in composition. St. Thomas' balsam = balsam of tolu. † St. Thomas' coin (also St. Thomas), ? an East Indian coin. St. Thomas' tree, Bauhinia tomentosa or B. variegata of the E. Indies, the pale yellow petals of which are spotted with crimson, fabled to be the blood of St. Thomas. St. Thomas worsted: see saint a. 4 c.
1559in Marsden Court Adm. (Selden) II. 110 Novem pecias auri vulgo dictas *Saintte Thomas coyne. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 53 Their Coins are of Gold; a St. Thomas, 10s. a Fanam, 7 and ½ of which go to a Dollar, or Petacha.
1866Treas. Bot., *St. Thomas' Tree, Bauhinia tomentosa. 1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 332 St. Thomas' Tree... Shrub or small tree.
1518N.C. Wills (Surtees 1908) 95 A jaket of tawny *Saint Thomas worsted.
5. Surg. The name of H. O. Thomas (1834–91), English surgeon, used attrib. and in the possessive to designate a splint that he invented for immobilizing the hip, consisting of a rigid bar that extends from the back to the calf and is bandaged to the leg, and with rings attached that partly encircle the chest and leg; also (now the usual sense), a splint consisting of a soft ring encircling the thigh from which two rigid rods extend on each side of the leg and meet beyond the foot, allowing traction to be applied to the leg via the cross-piece or the knee to be immobilized.
1884W. Pye Surg. Handicraft xxiii. 291 There are many other ways of treating acute hip disease... By Thomas' splint. 1940N. Mitford Pigeon Pie vi. 102 If..real casualties were brought in and found all the personnel tied up in Thomas's splints. 1961Countryman LVIII. iii. 600 The M.O...fixed my fractured leg in a Thomas splint. 1974Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. iv. 11/2 The Thomas' splint is designed so that when the traction tapes are tightened over the end of the splint, a counter thrust is exerted through the padded ring against the bony prominence of the ischium.
6. The name of S. G. Thomas (1850–85), English metallurgist and inventor, used attrib. to designate a steel-making process like the Bessemer process but using a converter with a basic instead of an acid lining, so that phosphorus is removed (invented by Thomas in 1878). Also Thomas–Gilchrist [P. Gilchrist (1851–1935), cousin and collaborator of Thomas].
1881Encycl. Brit. XIII. 346/1 Owing to the success of these operations, the ‘basic’ process has been more frequently spoken of as the ‘Thomas-Gilchrist process’. 1925Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXII. 523 Notwithstanding prognostications as to the supersession..of the Bessemer acid and basic (Thomas) process by the open-hearth process, it is certain that..the Bessemer process will long continue to hold its own. 1948H. W. Baker Mod. Workshop Technol. i. 22 In the Thomas process the necessary amount of lime..is charged into the converter..before the iron..is poured in. 1973[see Siemens a]. |