Obs. slang. [? f. ‘Tekel: weighed in the balances, and found wanting’ (Dan. v. 27) + -ITE1.] (In the cant of the Debtors’ Prison, Whitecross Street, London) A defaulter, a defaulting debtor.
1834. New Monthly Mag., XL. 328. This, though expressly denominated ‘the defaulter’s table,’ the only one to which the poor ‘tekelite’ has right of access, is invariably appropriated by the free and unexcepted knights to the washing of cups and platters.
