c890 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (1890) i. viii. 42 & heora stowe bræddon & weorðodon, swa swa sigefæst tacon.

c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xxviii. 196 To tacne ðæt he his geweald ahte.

c1200 Vices & Virt. 135 Nis þat non god tocne of ripe manne.

c1315 Shoreham vi. 15 In tokne þat pays scholde be By-tuexte god and manne.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 16574 Þe rode þai scop þan as þai wald, als we þe taken se.

1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) lviii. 84 The quene..shewed hym many signes and tokenes of loue.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxxxiv. 266 Charlemayne..kyssyd Huon in token of peace.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iii. xiii. 95 Bearing..a satchell ful of haye in token of their bondage and seruice.

1686 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) II. 409 Friendly cautions are Tokens of Love.

1778 F. Burney Evelina II. i. 5 He..gave him..a cordial slap on the back, and some other equally gentle tokens of satisfaction.

1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iii The hollow tree, from which the mists had drawn off, leaving a diamond token on every leaf.

c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 164 Sy þæt ðonne þære sunnan ryne beo on þam tacne þe man uirgo nemneð.

c1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) 8 303 Seo sunne wunað on þam twelf tacnum.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings xxiii. 5 Them that brent incense..to the Sonne, and the Mone, and the twelue tokens, and to all y^e hoost of heauen.

a1000 Gloss. Prudentius 45 Eal werod gehwyrfedum tacnum [versis signis]..foron.

a1000 Ags. Ps. lxxiii. 6 [lxxiv. 4] Hi asetton tacna heora tacna.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 495/2 Tokne, or sygne of ane in, idem quod seny, supra (P. signe of an ostry).

1883 in W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining

1908 C. S. Peirce Coll. Papers (1958) VIII. 240 I devoted much study to my ten trichotomies of signs... I..called..an Actisign a Token, a Famisign a Type.

1955 N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Ling. Theory (microfilm, Mass. Inst. Technol.) i. 31 The assumption..that it is possible to assign a meaning to each utterance token to be compared with other meanings.

1971 J. B. Carroll et al. Word Frequency Bk. p. xix A type is a particular word, counted just once, regardless of how many times it occurs; a token is any of the individual occurrences of the type.

1979 Computers & Humanities 10 135/1 Without further intervention concordances remain concordances of word tokens and not of headwords.

c1000 Ælfric Genesis iv. 15 God him sealde tacn, þæt nan þæra..hine ne ofsloge.

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) vi. v Whanne childrenne voice chaungeþ it is a tokene of Puberte.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6124 Bot in þat huse noght he yode þar he fand taken wit þe blode.

c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) xxiii. 247 Þat beren the tokne vpon hire hedes of a mannes foot.

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 264 A maister armoureur..jn his werkis had a takyn, yat his werkis war knawin by.

1557 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes 95 The tokens of a valyant and renowmed captaine are, his woundes and hurtes.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 115^v Virgill..doth..describe the tokens of a good Horse.

1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles vi. xiv. 240 The tokens on his helmet tell The Bruce, my Liege: I know him well.

1823 C. Lamb Praise of Chimney-sweepers in Elia 258 One unfortunate wight..by tokens was..discovered..to be no chimney-sweeper.

1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xxii. xiii. 832 [In Plague] spots (vulgarly called Tokens) appeare over all the body.

1666 J. H. Treat. Great Antidote 5 The Tokens are, I am confident, Marks sent from God, and it is as impossible to cure any that have them, as to contradict the Divine Decree.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 225 Those Spots they call'd the Tokens were really gangreen Spots, or mortified Flesh in small Knobs as broad as a little silver Peny, and hard as a piece of Callous or Horn.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 932 In the seventeenth century they [purpuric patches] were known as the ‘Tokens’.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 934 Petechial eruptions or ‘tokens’.

OE Beowulf 1654 Beowulf maþelode..‘Hwæt, we þe þas sælac..brohton tires to tacne.’

c1000 West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 30 Hwæt dest þu to tacne þæt we geseon & gelyfon?

c1200 Vices & Virt. 31 And wel ilieue be are tacne ðe he hafð iȝiuen me.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2860 Moyses tolde hem ðat bliðe bode, And let hem sen tockenes fro gode.

c1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 28 Þis schal be to þe þe tokne of perfite curyng when þou seez þe linne cloutez..to be drye.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxxxi. 246 He shal shew tokens that my sayenge is trewe.

1517 in Acts Parl. Scotl. (1875) XII. 38/1 And in takin of this oure consent and oblissing hereintill We..have [affi]xt to thir presentis oure Selis.

1692 J. Washington tr. J. Milton Def. People Eng. iii. 57 Money bears the Prince's Image, not as a token of its being his, but of its being good Metal.

1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. i. 7 A Token of his Being, and of his being God.

1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere II. i. viii. 79 These..were brought as tokens of peace and amity.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. iii. §7 By what token could it manifest its presence?

1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde Pref. sig. aj There remayneth at this daye no token of the laborious Tabernacle whiche Moises buylded.

1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 520 Places of antique memory that by some of their remaines and tokens shew themselves.

1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 547 There be many tokens remaining of old antiquity.

1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xvi. 147 And [Judas] tolde hem a tokne how to knowe with ihesus.

c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) xxiii. 80 & told to hir all the prive tokyns þat were ysaid bytwene hem two.

1561 in G. P. McNeill Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1898) XIX. 460 Delyverit to Peter Cokburne, quha come with ane takin fra George Symson, the saidis George lettres.

1716 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1901) V. 189 Admitting no one..but one or two, to whom I had given tokens that I might know when they were at the Door.

1827 O. W. Roberts Narr. Voy. Central Amer. 270 It is customary for the King to give any person..travelling specially ‘on King's business’ a token [by which he may be known].

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge lxxi. 353 You bring..some note or token from my uncle?

1936 Gloss. Terms Railway Signalling (B.S.I.) 51 Token, the authority which must be carried by trainmen to permit a train to travel over a prescribed section of a single line.

1968 O. S. Nock Railway Enthusiast's Encycl. 273 The tokens are engraved with the stations at each end of the sections to which they apply.

1971 D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana iv. 20 Tokens for single-line working were frequently fitted with a looped end and attached to a vertical post near a junction with the main line.

1516 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Star Chamber (1911) II. 115 Sworne..that he shall not be receyued ne were any lyuerey or token of or with any lord Gentilman or..other personne foreyn.

a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 374 Noo Reteindres, lyuerees, signes ne tokenys of clothing, nor othir wyse be taken, had nor vsed.

a1600 Battle of Balrinnes in J. G. Dalyell Scotish Poems 16th Cent. (1801) II. 349 He that thought not for to blyne, His mistres tockin tackes; They kist it first, and set it syne Wpone thair helmes and jackes.

1562 G. Legh Accedens of Armory 28 b In the first inuention of them, they were not called Armes, but Tokens.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. Tessera,..a token [1548 of leade, leather or other thyng] gyuen to people to receyue corne of the kinges almes.

1548 T. Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ (rev. ed.) Tesseræ nummariæ, tokens geuen to men to receiue a summe of money by.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Token geuen vnto people in fayres and markets when they bye cattell..tessera, tesserula.

1534 in J. V. Kitto Accts. Churchwardens St. Martin in the Fields (1901) 37 Item Receued and gathred for howssellyng tokons in the Churche xiij^s vij^d.

1583 Churchwardens' Accts. St. James' in J. F. Nichols & J. Taylor Bristol Past & Present (1881) II. 37 Paid for tokens to deliver to the howselynge people at Easter, vid.

1608 in J. V. Kitto Accts. Churchwardens St. Martin in the Fields (1901) 24 Feb. 585 It is ordered That every Communicant, for the generall Communions at Easter, shall the day before Their Receiving, Repaire to the Minister, or Curate, and then and their pay his dueties and take a token, and Restore his Token, at his Comming the next day to the Communion.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Marreau, the token of lead, etc., giuen for a remembrance, in Churches, to such as meane to receiue the Communion.

1626 in H. J. F. Swayne Churchwardens' Accts. Sarum (1896) 184 The Clarke shall deliver out a token for euerye persone that will receyve [the Sacrament].

1645 Dalgety Sess. Rec. in W. Rose Past. Wk. in Covt. Times (1877) vi. 135 All that wants tokens were forbidden to approoch the table.

1785 J. Boswell Jrnl. Tour Hebrides 27 Aug. 1773, 125 Her husband was in the church distributing tokens.

1888 J. M. Barrie Auld Licht Idylls iii Without a token, which was a metal lozenge, no one could take the sacrament.

1896 ‘I. Maclaren’ Moderate in Kate Carnegie The women had their tokens wrapt in snowy handkerchiefs.

1896 ‘I. Maclaren’ Moderate in Kate Carnegie Domsie went down one side and Drumsheugh the other, collecting the tokens, whose clink, clink in the silver dish was the only sound.

1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor i. iii. 48 Drunk sir?..perhaps he swallow'd a tauerne token, or some such deuise sir. View more context for this quotation

1604 Meeting of Gallants sig. C^v Indeed he had swallowed downe many Tauerne-tokens, and was infected much with the plague of drunkennes.

1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore i. iv. 20 If he haue but..a spleene not so bigge as a tauerne token.

a1631 R. Cotton Abstr. Rec. Tower (1642) 25 Retailers of victuals and small wares..using their owne tokens; For in and about London there are above three thousand that one with another cost yearely five pound a peice of leaden tokens.

1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iii. iv. 37 in Wks. II Buy a tokens worth of great pinnes.

1757 J. Harris Ess. Money & Coins 65 To supply the want of very small silver coins, a kind of Tokens or substitutes have been instituted all made of copper.

1812 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 150/1 The Silver Tokens issued by the Bank of England..Silver Tokens of 3s. each... The weight of the 1s. 6d. token is 4 dwts. 17½ grains.

1832 C. Babbage Econ. Machinery & Manuf. (ed. 2) xiv. 129 Silver tokens for various sums were issued by the Bank of England.

1908 R. Brooke Let. Mar. (1968) 123 Dear Mother, I am so sorry about the Boots token. I quite failed to realize..that it was wanted at once.

1934 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Token,..the metal fare or ticket issued by a transportation company.

1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §560/4 Scrip; tokens; coupons; etc.

1954 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 26 July 16/2 If the Department of Urbiculture will hand out free bus tokens, I'm not too much against the ideas.

1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Token,..a game counter.

1965 Ayllon & Azrin in Jrnl. Exper. Anal. Behav. 8 358/2 Special metal tokens were used as conditioned reinforcers.

1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Austral. & N.Z. viii. 174 The milk tokens..are put out for milk last thing at night.

1968 Listener 29 Aug. 266/3 The patients are paid with tokens resembling money for acting normally, and..behaving inappropriately or psychotically results in a loss of tokens.

1973 People's Jrnl. 4 Aug. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 16/4 A little boy who joined in the scramble collected, in addition to money, nine milk tokens, at that time each valid for ‘a pinta’.

1976 Southern Evening Echo (Southampton) 18 Nov. 18/5 Those who come to watch the show and contribute nothing (or only fruit machine tokens!) if the show is to be held again.

1977 Washington Post 16 June dc3 The subway will no longer accept the 10-cent student bus tokens.

1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1400/3 Boards range in style from Cruikshank's ‘Comic Game of the Great Exhibition of 1851’ to the Mondrian simplicity of ‘Quartette’ and counters or tokens are provided.

1980 J. Barnes Metroland ii. iv. 113 Orange ten-shilling notes at Christmas and Boots tokens.

1980 Washington Post 29 June (Mag. section) 20 The valet reminds you to present your parking token to your waiter 15 minutes before you plan to leave so that your car will be waiting.

1981 M. Gee Dying, in Other Words 111 The milkman, who was dishonest, and sometimes stole Clothilde's token, leaving no milk.

1982 Christian Sci. Monitor 15 Nov. 1 A collector of transportation tokens.

1983 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. i. 1/1 The price of bus and subway tokens..must be increased.

1463 T. Playter in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 291 And to þis [course] Maister Markham prayed you to agre by þe same token ye meved hym to sette an ende be-twyx you and my maisters your brethern.

1467–8 in F. W. Weaver Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 200 When ye come to him by the same token that I said to thabbat, Sir, I have a goode quarrell, the which is the cause of my journey, by that token he will deliver the said writinges unto you.

1491 Act 7 Hen. VII c. 22 Preamble, Ye may speke with him by the same token that he and y commyned toguyder of matiers touching your maisters sonne.

1607 R. C. tr. H. Estienne World of Wonders i. xxxviii. 305 At Aix in Germany, they were accustomed to shew his breeches, together with the virgin Maries smocke, by the same token that [Fr. à telles enseignes que] the smocke was big enough for a giant.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. ii. 277 Pan: I a token from Troylus. Cres: By the same token you are a Bawde. View more context for this quotation

1660 S. Pepys Diary 28 Feb. (1970) I. 70 Up in the morning, and had some red Herrings to our breakfast while my boot-heel was a-mending; by the same token, the boy left the hole as big as it was before.

1662 S. Pepys Diary 13 Apr. (1970) III. 64 I went to the Temple to church, and there heard another [sermon]. By the same token, a boy, being asleep, fell down a high seat to the ground.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 280 Others caused large Fires to be made..by the same Token..two or three were pleas'd to set their Houses on Fire, and so effectually sweetned them by burning them down to the Ground.

1857 Townsend Max & his Compan. in Househ. Words 26 Dec. 46/2 Max..was..a staunch Roman Catholic... (By this token: Many an argument have I had with him on religion..).

1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 193/2 By the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three quarters long.

1907 P. Dare From School to Stage vii. 126 To receive letters from people whom they do not know, and are, by the same token, never likely to know.

1945 B. Macdonald Egg & I (1946) i. i. 11 If you marry a doctor, don't whine because he doesn't keep the hours of a shoe clerk, and by the same token if you marry a shoe clerk, don't complain because he doesn't make as much money as a doctor.

1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird v. 66 I've dined out on a few stories about her. But not ones that matter. By the same token, she could have made quite a good thing about telling how she saw you..that night.

1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 701/1 By the same token, among the most interesting and valuable sections of this book are those which deal with technique.

1816 W. Scott Antiquary III. xi. 237 Ane suldna speak ill o' the dead—mair by token, o' ane's cummer and neighbour.

1850 N. Hawthorne Scarlet Let. xxi. 286 Our only danger will be from drug or pill; more by token, as there is a lot of apothecary's stuff aboard.

1861 ‘G. Eliot’ Silas Marner i. 8 All this Jem swore he had seen, more by token, that it was the very day he had been mole-catching on Squire Cass's land.

1915 Polit. Q. May 147 For form's sake ‘token’ estimates were presented, on the basis of £1,000 for each vote and £100 for each appropriation in aid.

1933 Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 1/7 The British Government..tendered a partial or ‘token’ payment of $10,000,000 to the United States ‘as an acknowledgment of the (war) debts pending a final settlement’.

1954 Times 20 Jan. 6/7 Twenty-six workers employed by a Manchester contractor have been dismissed for participating in Monday's token stoppage.

1947 Daily Mail 22 May 1 Civil Servants in some sections are considering ‘token’ strikes if their wages claims continue to drag on without result.

1958 Listener 12 June 978/1 Some London railway workers vote in favour of an unofficial ‘token’ strike in support of busmen.

1923 Times 27 Feb. 18/3 On the Supplementary Vote of £10 for Diplomatic and Consular Services..the anticipated savings under various subheads were rather larger than £155,198, and would..be sufficient to cover the whole amount now asked for; but inasmuch as all but one of the subheads referred to new services, it had been thought right that a token vote of £10 should be put down in order to provide the opportunity for discussing these new services.