subs. and verb. (old).—Generic for wantonness: as subs. = (1) a lewd conceit, jest, or tale; a love poem; amorous sport; (2) a maidenhead; and (3) the female pudendum. As verb = to wanton, to dally: also TO TICK AND TOY. TOYFUL (TOYSOME, TOYISH, or TOYING) = amorous, wanton (BAILEY, 1731).
1303. ROBERT MANNYNG OF BRUNNE [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 427. Manning used TOY for dalliance in 1303. Ibid., i. 370. He (Skelton) has Manning’s peculiar sense of TOY].
d. 1529. SKELTON, Works [DYCE], 50. To TOYE with him.
1571. EDWARDS, Damon and Pithias, The Prologue. The matron grave, the harlot wild, and full of wanton TOYS.
1579. GOSSON, The Schoole of Abuse, 35 (ARBER’S ed.). Such ticking, such TOYING, such smiling, such winking, and such manning them home, when the sportes are ended.
15[?]. HARRISON, The Passion of Sappho [NICHOLS, iv. 183].
| Wanton Cupid, idle TOYER, | |
| Pleasing tyrant, soft destroyer. |
1590. SPENSER, The Fairie Queene, II. ix. 34–35.
| And eke emongst them little Cupid play’d | |
| His wanton sportes … | |
| But other some could not abide to TOY. |
1596. NASHE, Have with You to Saffron-Walden, iii. 44. [Nash confesses he was often obliged] to pen unedifying TOYS for gentlemen.
[?]. Gilderoy [CHILD, Ballads, VI. 199].
| Aft on the banks we’d sit us thair, | |
| And sweetly kiss and TOY. |
1614. England’s Helicon [NARES].
| Unto her repaire, | |
| Where her flocks are feeding, | |
| Sit and TICK AND TOY, | |
| Till set be the sunne. |
c. 1650. BRATHWAITE, Barnaby’s Journal (1723), 61. With me TOY’D they, buss’d me, cull’d me.
1667. MILTON, Paradise Lost, ix. 1034.
| So said he, and forebore not glance or TOY | |
| Of amorous intent. |
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, i., 2 [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., p. 391]. Plea. Why, he swore he had a better opinion of her than to think she had her maidenhead; but if she were that fool, and had preserved the TOY, he swore he would not take the pains of fetching it, to have it.
1678. COTTON, Scarronides, or, Virgil Travestie (1770), 46.
| But we can cherish lusty Yeoman, | |
| And carry TOYS like other Women. |
1680. DRYDEN, The Spanish Friar, iv. 2.
| Raym. O virtue, virtue! what art thou become, | |
| That men should leave thee for that TOY, a woman, | |
| Made from the dross and refuse of a man! |
1693. CONGREVE, The Old Bachelor, Epilogue.
| As a rash girl, who will all hazards run, | |
| And be enjoy’d, tho’ sure to be undone; | |
| Soon as her curiosity is over, | |
| Would give the world she could her TOY recover. |
1707. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, II. ii. 8. Kisses, LOVE-TOYS, and am’rous Prattle.
1753. RICHARDSON, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, v. 299. Two or three TOYSOME things were said by my lord (no ape was ever so fond!) and I could hardly forbear him.
1841. MACAULAY, Warren Hastings. A roi fainéant who chewed bang, and TOYED with dancing girls, in a state-prison at Sattara.
Hence (old colloquial) = (4) anything of casual or trifling interest, use, amusement, or adornment, of adventitious worth, as contrasted with serious, hard use, or intrinsic value: a nick-nack, e.g., a trinket, an idle story, odd conceit, and spec. anything diminutive.
d. 1529. SKELTON, Sclaunder and False Detractions.
| Then let them vale a bonet of their proud sayle. | |
| And of their taunting TOIES rest with il hayle. |
1530. TYNDALE, Works [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 427. Tyndale uses TOY much like children’s play, ii. 11 (Last Part)].
1550. LATIMER, Sermons before Edward VI. Here by the way I will tell you a merry TOY.
1564. UDALL, The Apophthegmes of Erasmus [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 484. The word TOY had already meant a trifle or a folly; it now stands for a play on words, page 115, and in page xxiv. it expresses joke].
1590. MARLOWE, Tamburlaine the Great, i. 2. ’Tis a pretty TOY to be a poet.
1592. SHAKESPEARE, Midsummer Night’s Dream, v. 1. 3.
| The. More strange than true: I never may believe | |
| These antique fables, nor these fairy TOYS. | |
| Ibid. (1592), 1 Henry VI., iv. 1. 145. | |
| A TOY, a thing of no regard. | |
| Ibid. (1604), Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 326. | |
| Any silk, any thread, | |
| Any TOYS for your head, | |
| Of the new’st and finest, finest wear-a? |
1594. HOOKER, Ecclesiastical Polity, i. 15. A man whose wisdom is in weighty affairs admired would take it in some disdain to have his counsel solemnly asked about, a TOY.
c. 1600. The Merry Devil of Edmonton, iii. 1. 32.
| For your busk, attires and TOYS, | |
| Have your thoughts on heavenly joys. |
d. 1719. ADDISON, Italy [Works (BOHN), i. 504]. One cannot but be amazed to see such a profusion of wealth laid out in coaches, trappings, tables, cabinets, and the like precious TOYS.
1888. W. BLACK, The Strange Adventures of a House-boat, ii. Perched on the top of a hill was a conspicuous TOY of a church.
5. (old).—A whim, fancy, huff, offence, or caprice. Hence TO TAKE TOY = (1) to be huffish, whimsical, restless; and (2) to go at random, play tricks, act the fool: whence TOYSOME, etc.: cf. HOITY-TOITY = thoughtless, giddy. TOYT-HEADED = feather-brained.
14[?]. Babees Book [E.E.T.S.], 329.
| Cast not thyne eyes to ne yet fro, | |
| as thou werte full of TOYES. |
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, i. 4. 77.
| The very place puts TOYS of desperation, | |
| Without more motive, into every brain. |
1598. MARLOWE, Hero and Leander, v.
| To hear her dear tongue robb’d of such a joy, | |
| Made the well-spoken nymph TAKE such A TOY, | |
| That down she sunk. |
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Capricciare, to growe or be humourous, TOISH, or fantastical.
1605. JONSON, CHAPMAN, etc., Eastward Ho! iii. 2. A TOY, a TOY, runs in my head, i’ faith.
1607. CHAPMAN, Bussy D’Ambois, i. 1. Ta. Why did the TOY TAKE him in th’ head now? Bu. ’Tis leap-year, lady.
c. 1611. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 65.
| The hot horse, hot as fire | |
| TOOKE TOY at this. |
1613. MARSTON, The Insatiate Countesse, i. Men. How now, my lady? does the TOY TAKE you, as they say? Abi. No, my lord; nor doe we TAKE YOUR TOY, as they say.
1625. JONSON, The Staple of News, i. 2. The fool … can commit whom he will, and what he will, error, absurdity, as the TOY TAKES him.
1628. EARLE, Microcosmographie [ARBER], 63. She is indeed one that has TAKEN A TOY at the fashion of Religion, and is enamour’d of the New-fangle.
d. 1631. DONNE, The Progress of the Soul, 46. It quickened next a TOYFUL ape.
d. 1663. SANDERSON, Works, i. 358. As they sometimes withdraw their love from their children upon slender dislikes, so these many times TAKE TOY at a trifle.
1665. GLANVILL, Scepsis Scientifica, An Address, etc. Your Society, that ’twill discredit that TOYISHNESS of wanton fancy … that playes tricks with words, and frolicks with the Caprices of froathy imagination.
d. 1655. T. ADAMS, The Fatal Banquet, in Works, i. 221. These TOYT-HEADED times.
d. 1667. J. TAYLOR, Works (1835), II. 320. The contention is trifling and TOYISH.
d. 1703. POMFRET, Dies Novissima.
| Adieu, ye TOYISH reeds, that once could please | |
| My softer lips, and lull my cares to ease. |
1903. G. BOOTHBY, Long Live the King, viii. HOIGHTY-TOITY … what is the matter with you now?
6. (thieves’).—A watch. Whence WHITE TOY = a silver watch; RED TOY = a gold watch; TOY AND TACKLE = watch and chain; TOY-GETTER = a watch-snatcher.
1887. J. W. HORSLEY, Jottings from Jail, i. He was very tricky (clever) at getting a poge or a TOY, but he would not touch toys because he was afraid of being turned over (searched).
7. (Winchester).—In pl. = a bureau—desk and bookcase combined. Whence toy-time = evening preparation.
1440. Promptorium Parvulorum. TEYE, of a cofyr or forcer.
1881. PASCOE, ed. Everyday Life in Our Public Schools, 86. The clock striking 7, each junior retires to his ‘TOYS’ or bureau, for an hour and a half—during what is known as ‘TOY TIME,’ when the work of the next morning and the week’s composition have to be prepared.
1891. R. G. K. WRENCH, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. TOYS … The expression TOY-TIME suggests that the s has been added. If TOYS has not descended from this word [teye], it must have been transferred from the contents of the TOYS, and mean simply one’s belongings.
