sb. Forms: α. 7 tarrie, tary, 7–8 terry, 9 taree, tarea; β. 7 tadie, -ee, taddy; γ. 7 toddey, toddie, 7– toddy. [ad. Hind. tāṛī (with cerebral r, approaching English d), f. Hind. tār palm-tree:—Skr. tâla palmyra.]
1. The sap obtained from the incised spathes of various species of palm, esp. Caryota urens, the wild date, the coco-nut, and the palmyra, used as a beverage in tropical countries; also, the intoxicating liquor produced by its fermentation.
α. 1609–10. W. Finch, in Purchas, Pilgrims (1625), I. 436. A goodly Countrey … abounding with wild Date Trees … whence they draw a liquor called Tarrie or Sure.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav., 23. In this Village we found some Terry.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., III. I. vi. 16. They make a strong water also of tary which they distil.
1850. Directions Rev. Off. N. W. Prov., 225. The Taree or juice of the Palm Tree is liable to duty, in its fermented or unfermented state.
β. 1611. N. Dounton, in Purchas, Pilgrims (1625), I. III. xii. § 4. 298. Palmita wine, which they call Taddy.
1615. in Calr. Col. Pap., E. Ind. (1862), 386. A wine called Tadie, distilled from the Palmetto trees.
1626. Purchas, Pilgrimage, V. (ed. 4), 539. Goodly Villages full of trees, yeelding Taddy.
1678. Phillips (ed. 4), Taddy, a sort of pleasant juice issuing out of a spungy Tree.
γ. 1620. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1906), 185. Excessive drincking of toddy. Ibid. (1622), (1908), II. 144. All stragglinge libertyes and discontented toddey pott companyons.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 6. [At Sierra Leone] they were often presented with Flowres, Fruits, Toddy, and like things.
1655. E. Terry, Voy. E. Indies, 97. A very pleasant and clear liquor, called Toddie.
1732. Pike, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 235. Instead of Toddy, which is a Sort of Palm-Wine, the Liquor from the Birch-Tree comes near to it.
1770. Cook, Voy. round World, III. xi. (1773), 689. A kind of wine, called toddy, is procured from this tree [fan-palm], by cutting the buds which are to produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them small baskets, made of the leaves, which are so close as to hold liquids without leaking.
1885. G. S. Forbes, Wild Life in Canara, 253. The Khonds drink a great deal of ‘toddy,’ drawn from the sago palm.
2. A beverage composed of whisky or other spirituous liquor with hot water and sugar.
Often distinguished by prefixing the name of the chief ingredient, as brandy-, gin-, rum-, whisky-toddy.
1786. Burns, Holy Fair, xx. The lads an’ lasses, blythely bent, To mind baith saul an’ body, Sit round the table, weel content, An’ steer about the toddy. [Brit. Mus. MS. copy of 1785 in Burns’s own handwriting has lines 2 and 4 ‘Their lowan thirst an drowth tae quench,’… And steer about the punch.’]
1788. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T. (ed. 2), Toddy, originally the juice of the cocoa tree, and afterwards rum, water, sugar, and nutmeg.
1798. Root’s Amer. Law Rep., I. 20. For giving her a dose in some toddy, to intoxicate and inflame her passions.
1808. Sporting Mag., XXXII. 215. Punch is certainly wholesomer than … toddy, which is grog with the addition of sugar.
1809. A. Wilson, Poems & Lit. Prose (1876), I. 158. A tumbler of toddy is usually the morning’s beverage of the inhabitants [Paisley].
1814. The Advertiser (Wikes-Barre, PA), 3 June, 1/2, Advt. Some suppose it [Dr. Newton’s Essence of Hemlock] very efficacious in colds, by mixing it in hot toddy.
1818. Todd, J’s Dict., Toddy … 3. In low language, a kind of punch, or mixture of spirits and water.
1820. Rum-toddy [see RUM sb.1 3].
1859. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 7. A stiff tumbler of brandy toddy.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., vi. They took to more toddy and singing Scotch songs.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 402. A few spoonfuls of hot brandy or whisky toddy.
b. With a and pl. A glass of this beverage.
1863. [Catherine C. Hopley], Life in South fr. Commencement of War, I. xv. 299. Whiskey! What on earth do you want with so much whiskey?—your parents do not encourage toddies!
1894. Blackw. Mag., July, 75. I drank more than one toddy.
3. attrib. and Comb., as, a. from sense 1, toddy-fruit, -shop, -wine; toddy-bird, any of various E. Indian birds, as Ploceus baya, which feed on the sap of palms; see also toddy-shrike; toddy-cat = palm-cat a. (PALM sb.1); toddy-cutter, see quot.; toddy-drawer = toddy-man; † toddy-fly, see quot. c. 1711; toddy-man, a man engaged in the collection or preparation of toddy from palms; toddy-palm, any palm that yields toddy; spec. Caryota urens, and the wild date-tree of India, Phœnix sylvestris; also applied to the coco-nut tree and palmyra; toddy-shrike, the palmyra swallow (Artamus fuscus); toddy-tree, a tree that yields toddy; = toddy-palm.
b. From sense 2, toddy-drinker, -drinking, -glass, -jug, -maker, -sap, -stirrer; toddy-kettle, see quot.; toddy-ladle, (a) see quot.; (b), a name for the American aloe (Cent. Dict.); toddy-stick, a spatula, usually of glass or metal, for stirring toddy.
a. 1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 76, margin. The Ingenuity of the *Toddy Bird.
1864–5. Wood, Homes without H., xiii. (1868), 249. This is the nest of the Baya Sparrow, sometimes called the Toddy Bird.
1867. Jerdon, Mammals India, 127. It [Tree-cat] is very abundant in the Carnatic and Malabar coast, where it is popularly called the *Toddy-cat, in consequence of its fondness for the juice of the palm.
1839. T. Beale, Sperm Whale, 339. Persons … called by the English sailors *‘toddy-cutters,’ are employed … for obtaining the juice of the cocoa nut tree. Ibid., 340. The ‘Toddy-cutter’ … cuts off the end of the fructifying bud…. He then places under the wounded part a long empty bamboo.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1257. When the flowering branch is half shot, the *toddy-drawers bind the stock round with a young coco-nut leaf.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. vii. § 2. 162. The *Toddy-Fly … hath but two Horns.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VII. 70. The Toddy Fly,… 30 or 40 of them together, sawing thro’ the Bark by the Help of their Snout-horn, will make themselves drunk with the Liquor that flows down.
1902. Blackw. Mag., May, 606/2. An over-ripe *toddy-fruit fell off from a tall palm.
1856. Treas. Bot., 157/2. As soon as a spike makes its appearance … a *toddyman … securely binds it with thongs so that it cannot expand.
1900. Daily News, 9 March, 6/2. A talking of the breezes in the tops of the *toddy palms.
1842. W. T. Humphrey, Lett. to Presbyters in Madras, 10. With as little ceremony as if walking into a *toddy shop.
1632. R. Cartwright, in St. Papers Col., E. Ind., 291. Order 2 pago[das] worth of *toddy trees.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 29. The Toddy Tree is not unlike the Date or Palmeto.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, II. 44, note. Toddy tree, the Indian name for the cocoa-nut tree.
1672. W. Hughes, Amer. Physit., 59. It is called by some the Mamin-Tree, or the Mamee-Tree; by others of the Planters Toddie-Tree: and the liquor or Wine that runneth out is called *Toddie-Wine, or Mamee-Wine.
b. 1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, vii. In the North he may become a confirmed *toddy-drinker.
1838. Chambers’s Jrnl., 3 March, 48/1. The universal practice of *toddy-drinking among the middle classes in the country towns.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. ix. Soiled with the marks of *toddy-glasses and tobacco-ashes.
1865. Alex. Smith, Summer in Skye, I. 110. The *toddy-jugs were drained.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Toddy-kettle, a small hot-water kettle used in Scotland for making toddy. Ibid., *Toddy-ladle, a small deep spoon or ladle, used in Scotland for conveying whisky-toddy from a rummer or punch-bowl to a wine-glass.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster F., II. lxix. 50. By the social fires Sit many, cuddling round their *toddy-sap.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. vi. A small counter covered with tumblers and *toddy-sticks.
Hence Toddy v., trans. to intoxicate with toddy; Toddyize v., trans. to cause to drink toddy.
1836. T. Hook, G. Gurney (1850), III. iii. 362. I submitted myself to be toddyised according to his will and pleasure.
a. 1849. Poe, W. E. Channing, Wks. 1864, III. 239. Better things than getting toddied are to be expected of Socrates.
