teetotum

English

teetotum (sense 1)

Alternative forms

• tetotum, T-totum, tee-totem

Etymology 1

From Latin totum (“all”), marked by a T on one of the four sides.

Noun

teetotum (plural teetotums)

1. (historical) A toy (spinning top) similar to a dreidel.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Tom-all-alone’s”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 157:

     The town awakes; the great tee-totum is set up for its daily spin and whirl; […]

   • 1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Wool and Water”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 104:

     "Are you a child or a teetotum?" the Sheep said, as she took up another pair of needles. "You'll make me giddy soon, if you go on turning round like that."

   • 1893, “First You're Born”, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music):

     Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho/Time's teetotum/If you spin it/Gives it quotum...

Etymology 2

Noun

teetotum (plural teetotums)

1. (historical) A working men's club conducted under religious influences, as an alternative to drinking in the saloon.

Further reading

• teetotum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia