c1425 Cast. Persev. 2880 in Macro Plays 162 Werldlys good þou hast for-gon, & with tottys þou schalt be torn.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 497/2 Totte, supra in folte.

?a1475 Promptorium Parvulorum (Winch.) (1908) 497 Totte, fowle, supra in ff. [Ffolt idem quod folet, ffolette, ffatuellus].

a1660 Aphorismical Discov. in J. T. Gilbert Contemp. Hist. Ireland (1879) I. 278 Whoe answeared like a toute, or a maddman, as he was, that he was for the Kinge.

1529 S. Gardiner in State Papers Henry VIII (1830) I. 345 The copy..I sende unto Your Grace,..adding in the margyne tottes, wherby Your Grace may perceyve omne consilium rei gestæ.

1642 C. Vernon Considerations Excheqver 32 The greatest part of the Sheriffes totts and summes of money by him taken in charge at his apposals, would be set off and discharged.

1658 P. Osborne Pract. Exchequer Court 71 After his said Secondary hath made up the Sheriffs second summ upon his De debitis plurimum, which be his Tots and upon his De pluribus debitis charge which be his greene wax, and his whole as before, or so many of them as he is charged with, hee causeth the Sheriffs forraigne accounts to be cast up.

1658 P. Osborne Pract. Exchequer Court 80 He maketh speciall tot against the same summe thus [etc.].

1798 T. Farrer in J. Manning Exch. of Pleas (1819) II. App. 267 Such fines, recognizances and amerciaments, as each sheriff has received he answers by saying Tot, whereupon I [deputy clerk] mak that answer upon the roll of the estreat. When the sheriff receives part and not the whole, he answers Tot as to part, and Nil as to the rest.

1686 S. Pepys Mem. Royal Navy (1690) 36 Repaires, l. 132000, Sea-stores, l. 88000. Tot, 220,000.]

1755 C. Charke Narr. Life 260 The above-mentioned notable Gentleman, with his wife and a young Fellow, besides our two selves, made up the whole Totte.

1857 Londonderry Standard 26 Feb. 2/2 Forty monopolists whose numerical ‘tot’ is so oddly coincident with the history of Ali Baba.

1866 Times 28 Apr. 5/6 He added up the gross ‘tots’ of the several poll books himself.

1871 Standard 13 Feb. The task of going over the cards..and comparing the lists, and doing the general tot-up, is very arduous.

1879 C. Marvin Our Public Offices 11 I fell upon the row of ‘tots’ with the same vigour.

1894 Daily News 14 July 5/1 He has seen children in Standards IV and V using their fingers freely during the examination, and even trying to do ‘tots’ by this cumbrous method.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Tot, a cup or glass.

1845 Sir H. B. Edwardes in Mem. (1886) I. 33 That half-mad camel, who is overladen with tents and tots. [Note. Tin pots, out of which the European soldiers drink.]

1872 Daily News 5 Sept. Dark figures [soldiers]..throw themselves down on the straw, and investigate into the contents of the mug or of the tot.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xxvii. 289 Give me that ‘tot’ that I see tied to your saddle.

1891 Sale Catal. Glass Wks. Stourbridge Twenty-seven tots. Two flower bowls.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2)

1847–78 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words Tot, anything very small. East.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. vii. 78 We jabbed the stopper down the whiskey-tin and gave you a tot of it.

1878 F. S. Williams Midland Railway (ed. 4) 527 The hole is charged with gunpowder,—about a pint—or two ‘tots’..being usually enough.

1908 Times 30 July 8/3 The issue of ‘tots of rum’ on cold nights was not only not desirable, but absolutely pernicious.

1944 Sun (Baltimore) 15 July 13/3 (heading) Pall Mall tot lot open daily except Saturday.

1968 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 6 Dec. 41/4 Snow fails to stop Gold River children from enjoying recently completed tot-lot behind the community hall.

1977 Ottawa Citizen 19 May 2/2 The plan includes..a ‘tot lot’ for pre-schoolers.

1926 Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth) 12 Feb. 7 (heading) Liquor bill under fire—evils of the tot system.

1953 P. H. Abrahams Return to Goli ii. 77 The vicious ‘tot’-system which obtains in the wine-growing Cape valley..is ruining the health..of a very large number of Coloureds.

1974 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 24 Feb. 14 Asked whether he made use of the tot system, Mr. —— said: [etc.].

1874 Hotten's Slang Dict. (rev. ed.) 327 ‘Tot’ is a bone, but chiffoniers and cinder-hunters generally are called Tot-pickers nowadays. Totting also has its votaries on the banks of the Thames, where all kinds of flotsam and jetsam, from coals to carrion, are known as tots.

1880 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 5 369 The contents of the dust-bins consisted chiefly of cinders and ashes and the sweepings of the houses, but they also contained a number of articles thrown into them as refuse by the occupiers of the houses, and known as ‘tots’.

1368 Act 42 Edw. III c. 9 Est ordene..qe homme veie les dites estretes enseallees, & qe ce qest paie soit tottee, et meismes les estretes mandez as Viscontes sur la receite. transl. a Man shall see the same Estreats sealed, and that the same which is paid, be totted, and the same Estreats sent to the Sheriffs upon the Receipt.]

1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 15 All other yssues and amercyamentes..whether they be totted or not totted, taken to the charge of the Shyryff or not taken to his charge.

1620 J. Wilkinson Treat. Statutes conc. Coroners & Sherifes (new ed.) 75 If it bee totted, that is charged, though it can never be levied, it will now hardly be avoided, but it must be paid.

a1726 G. Gilbert Treat. Court of Exchequer (1758) vii. 115 If the Sheriff has levied any Part of these Debts he Totts it, and the Letter T is set upon such Sum.

1798 T. Farrer in J. Manning Exch. of Pleas (1819) II. App. 267 As to such sums as are totted by the sheriff.

1444 in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 25 Ser, ther arn xv jurores a-bowe. Certefie ye as many as ye will, but lete these men that be tottid be certified, for thei be the rewleris.

1522 T. Wolsey Let. to Henry VIII in State Papers I. 115 The Judges procedyd to election of your Schreffes..for thys yere; whos namys be comprisid in a byll of parchement herin closid; desyring Your Grace to tot and marcke suche oon of thre namyd for every schire, as may stand with your gracious pleasure.

1524 T. Wolsey Let. to Henry VIII in State Papers I. 150 The copy.., with my poore opinion upon the same, totted in the margyne.

1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1545/1 Such as were absent, had no allowance that daie: if they came late, their wages was totted at the expenditors good discretion.

1612 in Court Leet Rec. Manch. (1885) II. 270 Those ffreeholders..whose names are not totted in the Courtbooke.

1770 H. Brooke Fool of Quality V. xvii. 132 These, totted together, will make a pretty beginning of my little project.

1839 T. Hook Gurney Married 403 Now, ma'am, if you will just tot up your account for schooling and that, I'll arrange the whole matter.

1876 B. L. Farjeon Love's Victory xiv When he totted up the figures, he was rather serious.

1895 C. D. Stuart & A. J. Park Variety Stage ii. 31 A waiter totting up the account as you passed through.

1882 W. Besant All Sorts of Men I. iv. 107 I..wondered how much it would tot up to. Something, I thought, in four figures.

1892 Idler July 719 Three stalls a week tot up frightfully in a year.

1824 W. Jameson in Mem. & Lett. (1845) 46 My little Benoni is gathering strength and totting about.

1844 A. McKay in D. H. Edwards Mod. Sc. Poets 2nd Ser. 377 When ye were wee bairnies, tot, totting about.

1844 A. Smart in D. Robertson Songs for Nursery 57/1 Awa' they tot wi' ane anither.

1884 J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffins xiv. 121 ‘P'r'aps he's going a-tottin'’ (picking up bones,) said Ripston.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 409 On a step a gnome totting among a rubbishtip crouches to shoulder a sack of rags and bones.

1969 Guardian 6 Feb. 5 The right to tot or sell salvage is the cause of a 10-day-old strike of 267 dustmen.

1976 M. Russell Double Deal iv. 32 I could earn as much, totting for the corporation.