English

Proper noun

Tom

1. A diminutive of the male given name Thomas, also used as a formal male given name.
   • 1605 William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, Scene IV:

     Poor Tom's a-cold.

   • 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, chapter VI

     "Becky Thatcher. What's yours? Oh, I know. It's Thomas Sawyer."

     "That's the name they lick me by. I'm Tom when I'm good. You call me Tom, will you?"

   • 1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves:

     What I'm worrying about is what Tom says when he starts talking."

     "Uncle Tom?"

     "I wish there was something else you could call him except 'Uncle Tom'," said Aunt Dahlia a little testily. "Every time you do it, I expect to see him turn black and start playing the banjo."

   • 2008 David Park, The Truth Commissioner, ISBN 9780747591290, page 366:

     "We're not sure - we were expecting a girl for some reason. But we're thinking of something simple like Tom."

     "Thomas?"

     "No, just Tom."

2. A nickname for the common man. [since 1377]

Translations

See also

• Tommy
• Tom, Dick or Harry
• tomboy
• tomcat
• tomfoolery
• tomnoddy
• peeping tom

Etymology 2

Possibly onomatopoeia, conflated with the given name, given the practice of giving objects such as Big Ben human names. Alternatively, it may derive from an inscription on the old bell used as metal to make the Great Tom of Oxford in 1680: In Thomæ laude resono bim bom sine fraude.^[1]

Proper noun

Tom

1. A large, deep-toned bell, or a particularly notable example of one. [since 17th century]
   • 1857, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, "Something about bells", Chambers's Journal, vol. 28, no. 207, page 398.

     They had a thick rim, and when struck with pieces of wood, gave out a tone deeper than that of some of the Great Toms renowned in belldom.

   • 1857, "An earthquake in Honduras", Harper's Magazine:

     After these came innumerable little boys bearing little bells, which made little noises in comparison to the "Big Tom" that preceded them.

   • 1825, Moncrieff, "A Parish-Clerk was Johnny Bell", The Universal Songster (in a song about a man who hangs himself in the bell tower):

     And there little Johnny Bell hung dangling along with the great Tom bell, and all the rest of the bells.

   • 1848, "The book auction of New York", The Literary World:

     The city [New York] does not know a better auctioneer; the celebrated Tom Bell not ringing clearer.

Related terms

• tom-tom

References

1. ↑ "Bells", The Penny Magazine, pp.404-406, 1834.

Statistics

Anagrams

• Mot , MOT

Danish

Proper noun

Tom

1. A male given name borrowed from English.

Dutch

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Tom ?

1. A male given name

German

Proper noun

Tom

1. A male given name borrowed from English.

Norwegian

Etymology

From English Tom. Taken to regular use as a given name in Norway in the 20th century.

Proper noun

Tom

1. A male given name.

Related terms

• Tomas
• Tommy

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, ISBN 82-521-4483-7
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 15 517 males with the given name Tom living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1950s. Accessed on April 29th, 2011.

Portuguese

Proper noun

Tom m

1. A diminutive of the male given name Antônio, cognate to English Tony.

Swedish

Proper noun

Tom

1. A male given name borrowed from English.

English

Noun

tom ‎(plural toms)

1. The male of the domesticated cat.
2. The male of the turkey.
3. The male of certain other animals.
4. (Britain, slang) A prostitute.
5. (music) A type of drum.
6. (obsolete) The jack of trumps in the card game gleek.

Synonyms

• (male cat): tomcat, he-cat
• (male turkey): turkey-cock
• (male of other animals): male
• (prostitute): See also Wikisaurus:prostitute

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Shortened from tomato

Noun

tom ‎(plural toms)

1. (Britain, greengrocers' slang) A tomato (the fruit).

   Toms 90p a pound

Etymology 3

Rhyming slang from tomfoolery.

Noun

tom ‎(uncountable)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) jewellery

Etymology 4

From Uncle Tom.

Verb

tom ‎(third-person singular simple present toms, present participle tomming, simple past and past participle tommed)

1. (intransitive, derogatory, of a black person) To act in an obsequiously servile manner toward white authority.

Etymology 5

Verb

tom ‎(third-person singular simple present toms, present participle tomming, simple past and past participle tommed)

1. (nautical) To dig out a hole below the hatch cover of a bulker and fill it with cargo or weights to aid stability.

Anagrams

• Mot , MOT

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse tómr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔm/, [tˢʌmˀ]

Adjective

tom

1. empty

Irish

Etymology 1

From Old Irish tom ‎(“bush, tuft; hillock, knoll”).

Pronunciation

• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /t̪ˠuːmˠ/

Noun

tom m ‎(genitive singular toim, nominative plural toim or tomacha)

1. bush, shrub
2. clump, tuft, tussock

Declension

• Alternative plural: tomacha (Cois Fharraige)

Synonyms

• (bush, shrub): tor

Derived terms

• tomach ‎(“bushy; tufted”)

Etymology 2

Noun

tom m ‎(genitive singular toma, nominative plural tomanna)

1. Alternative form of taom ‎(“fit, paroxysm”)

Declension

Etymology 3

Verb

tom ‎(present analytic tomann, future analytic tomfaidh, verbal noun tomadh, past participle tomtha)

1. Alternative form of tum ‎(“dip, immerse”)

Conjugation

Mutation

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tɔm]

Determiner

tom

1. locative masculine singular of ten
2. locative neuter singular of ten

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse tómr

Adjective

tom ‎(neuter singular tomt, definite singular and plural tomme, comparative tommere, indefinite superlative tommest, definite superlative tommeste)

1. empty

Related terms

• tømme

Derived terms

• halvtom
• tomhet

References

• “tom” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse tómr

Adjective

tom ‎(neuter singular tomt, definite singular and plural tomme, comparative tommare, indefinite superlative tommast, definite superlative tommaste)

1. empty

Derived terms

• halvtom

References

• “tom” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Oksapmin

Noun

tom

1. water

Reference

• Robyn Loughnane, A Grammar of Oksapmin (April 2009), page 58

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *tōmaz ‎(“empty”). Akin to Old Norse tómr ‎(“empty”), whence Icelandic tómur ‎(“empty”).

Adjective

tōm

1. empty
2. (figuratively) free from

Descendents

• Middle English: tome
  • English: toom

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t̪ɔ̃m]

Noun

tom m inan

1. volume (single book of a publication issued in multi-book format)

Declension

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese *tõo, from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek τόνος ‎(tónos, “tone”), from τείνω ‎(teínō, “I stretch”). Compare Spanish tono.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tõ/
• Hyphenation: tom

Noun

tom m (plural tons)

1. tone (property of sound determined by the frequency)

See also

• trom

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪ʰɔum/

Noun

tom m ‎(genitive singular tuim, plural toman or tomannan)

1. round hillock or knoll, rising ground, swell, green eminence
2. any round heap
3. tuft of anything
4. bush, thicket
5. anthill
6. (Islay) stool
7. volume of a book
8. bank
9. grave
10. (medicine, rare) the plague
11. conical knoll

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtóːm/
• Tonal orthography: tọ̑m

Noun

tóm m inan ‎(genitive tóma, nominative plural tómi)

1. tome

Declension

See also

• zvézek

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tómr.

Pronunciation

• (Swedish) IPA^(key): /tum/

Adjective

tom

1. empty

   tomma tunnor skramlar mest

   empty barrels make the most noise (those who complain most vigorously, are the least important)

Declension

Related terms

Antonyms

• full

Etymology 2

Used in Swedish since 1697. From French tome, Latin tomus ‎(“section of larger work”), from Ancient Greek τόμος ‎(tómos, “section, roll of papyrus, volume”), from τέμνω ‎(témnō, “I cut, separate”). Cognate with English tome.

Pronunciation

• (Swedish) IPA^(key): /toːm/

Noun

tom c

1. a tome, a volume in a series of books, a (thick) book

Declension

Related terms

• tomtals

References

• tom in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• tom in Svenska Akademiens ordbok online.

Zuni

Pronoun

tom

1. Second person singular possessive (medial position)

   your

2. Second person singular object

   you

Related terms

• to'
• tomma