(erron. tomhan.) [Gaelic toman hillock, dim. of tom hill.] A hillock; a mound of earth. Often applied to mounds representing ancient glacial moraines, found in the heads of valleys in the Highlands.
1811. Mrs. Grant, Superstit. Highl. Scot., I. vii. 282. The children’s nursery tales are full of wonders performed by the secret dwellers of these tomhans, or fairy hillocks.
1830. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Nov., Wks. 1856, III. 86. The Queen of the Fairies among the tomans of her ancient woods.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., v. (1858), 99. The western slopes of the valley are mottled by grassy tomhans—the moraines of some ancient glacier.
1876. D. Gorrie, Summ. & Wint. in Orkneys, iii. 121. Those huge boulders and gravel-knolls or tomans continued a mystery till the glacial theory.
