ˈtisty-ˈtosty, int., n., a. dial.
Forms: 6– tisty-tosty, 6 tistitostie, 9 teesty-tosty.
[In sense 1 perh. a mere ejaculation. In sense 3 it has been compared with † tyte tust(e or † tussemose a nosegay: see tuzzy-muzzy; but current dialect use associates it rather with toss, and tost, tossed.]
† 1. int. as an ejaculation of triumph or exultation.
| 1568 U. Fulwell Like Will to Like C iij, Hey tisty tosty an owle is a bird. c 1570 Marr. Wit & Science iv. iv. E j, Mother must I haue his Cote, now mother must [I]? Chal [= I shall] be a liuely lad, with hey tistye tosty. |
† 2. n. A swaggering or blustering fellow (? one who uses the ejaculation). Also attrib. or adj. Obs.
| 1598 Florio, Sbrauo, a swash-buckler, a swaggrer, a hackster, a cutter, a tistitostie. Ibid., Squassa pennacchio,..a tisti-tostie-fellow, a swaggrer. |
3. n. A bunch of flowers, a nosegay (obs.); in mod. dial., a cowslip-ball: also tisty-tosty ball.
| 1825 Jennings W. Country Gloss., Teesty-tosty, the blossoms of cowslips collected together, tied in a globular form, and used to toss to and fro for an amusement called teesty-tosty... Sometimes called simply a tosty. 1865 Cornh. Mag. July 41 ‘Blossom-ball’..is evidently formed after the West-country ‘cowslip-ball’, the ‘tisty-tosty ball’ of Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, which children yearly make. |
b. attrib. or adj. Round like a cowslip-ball; plump and comely.
| 1888 T. Hardy Wessex Tales (1889) 35 She's a rosy-cheeked, tisty-tosty little body enough. |