Little Johnny and his family lived in the country, and as a result seldom had guests. He was eager to help his mother after his father appeared with two dinner guests from the office. When the dinner was nearly over, Little Johnny went to the kitchen and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, giving it to his father who passed it to a guest.
Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie and gave it to his father, who again gave it to a guest.
This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, "It"s no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size."
n. - thing serving as a symbol, reminder, or mark (as a token of affection; in token of my esteem).
- voucher.
- thing equivalent to something else, esp. Money.
- (attrib.) A perfunctory (token effort). B conducted briefly to demonstrate strength of feeling (token strike). C chosen by tokenism to represent a group (token woman).
TOMMY
n. (pl. -ies) colloq. British private soldier. [tommy atkins, name used in specimens of completed official forms]
TONAL
adj. Of or relating to tone or tonality. tonally adv. [medieval latin: related to *tone]
TONGS
n.pl. Implement with two arms for grasping coal, sugar, etc. [old english]
TONIC
sol-fa n. Mus. System of notation used esp. In teaching singing.
- water n. Carbonated water flavoured with quinine.
- —n. - invigorating medicine.
- anything serving to invigorate.
- = *tonic water.
- mus. Keynote. —adj. Invigorating. [greek: related to *tone]
TONNE
n. = *metric ton. [french: related to *ton]
TONUP
attrib. Adj. Slang (of a motor cyclist) achieving a speed of 100 m.p.h., esp. Habitually.
TOOTH
n. (pl. Teeth) 1 each of a set of hard bony enamel-coated structures in the jaws of most vertebrates, used for biting and chewing.
- toothlike part or projection, e.g. The cog of a gearwheel, the point of a saw or comb, etc.
- (often foll. By for) taste; appetite.
- (in pl.) Force, effectiveness. armed to the teeth completely and elaborately armed. Fight tooth and nail fight very fiercely. Get one's teeth into devote oneself seriously to. In the teeth of 1 in spite of (opposition or difficulty etc.).
- contrary to (instructions etc.).
- directly against (the wind etc.). toothed adj. (also in comb.). Toothless adj. [old english]
- powder n. Powder for cleaning the teeth.
TOPAZ
n. Transparent mineral, usu. Yellow, used as a gem. [greek topazos]
A cat uses whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.
