▪ I. tut, n.1
(tʌt)
Also 6, 8 tutt, 7 tit, toyte, 8–9 toit.
[There is perh. more than one word here. Of the origin nothing has been ascertained.]
1. Each of a number of objects set up as ‘bases’ in rounders or similar games; also (in pl.), a kind of stool-ball in which the player at each base must move to the next base each time the ball is struck; also called tut-ball; also the game of rounders. local.
| 1519 in Priory of Hexham (Surtees) II. 157 Ludi inhonesti, prout pili-ludus pedalis, et manualis, viz. tuttes, et handballac Pennyston. c 1572 Gascoigne Fruites of Warre xciv, Yet haue I shot at maister Bellums butte And throwen his ball although I toucht no tutte, I haue percase as deeply dealt the dole As he that hit the marke and gat the gole. 1655 Clarke Phraseol. Puerilis 141 (Halliw.). 1777 Horæ Subsecivæ (MS.) 443 (E.D.D.) Tut, a sort of stool ball much practised about the Easter holidays, particularly at Exeter. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Tut-ball,..a very ancient game,..elsewhere called stool-ball. 1883 Jackson & Burne Shropsh. Folk-Lore 524 Tut-ball... One of the players in the den..hit back the ball with the palm of the hand, and immediately ran to one of three brick-bats, called ‘tuts’—which were set up at equal distances. |
2. W. dial. ‘A small seat or hassock made of straw; a cushion or hassock for kneeling upon’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1553 Bradford Serm. Repent. (1574) F j, Oh hard harts that we haue, which make tuts for syn. 1637 Churchw. Acc. Cheddle (Davies), Paid for a tut for him that drawes the bellowes of the orgaines to sit upon. 1637–8 Hartland (Devon) Church Acc. in Chope Hartland Gloss. s.v. Toyte, Paid John Couch for a toyte for Mr. Churton to kneele upon 4 d. 1647–8 Ibid., Paid for a tit for the minister 2 d. 1751–2 E. Budleigh Churchw. Acc. in Rep. Devonsh. Provinc. July (1902) (E.D.D.), For three tutts for the parson, 1 s. 1786 Pilton Churchw. Acc. in Notes & Gleanings (Exeter) II. 37/2 P{supd} for a Toit for the Minister's Dusk [sic]. |
b. transf. as a butchers' term: = cushion n. 4 a.
| 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 55 Wide fore-quarter..not quite matched by..the hind-quarters, the flank and tut being rather deficient. |
† 3. The orb borne as an emblem of sovereignty. Obs. rare—0.
| 1674 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4), Tut,..a globe or ball, with a golden cross on it, anciently carried by Emperours and Kings. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tut, or Mound, an Imperial Ensign of a Golden Globe, with a Cross on it. |
▪ II. tut, n.2 local.
(tʌt)
Also 8 tote, tet-.
[Origin unascertained.]
Orig. in the Cornish tin-mines, now also in Derbysh. lead-mining: in the phrase upon tut (also by the tut), and attrib. as tut-bargain, tut-man, tut-work (also as vb.), tut-worker, tut-working, tut-workman: denoting a system of payment by measurement or by the piece, adopted in paying for work which brings no immediate returns, as distinct from tribute 3; hence, work of this character; dead-work.
| 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 180 [Under certain conditions] they set it to be sunk, driven, stoped, or cut down upon Tut; and in such case the Miners take what they term a Tut⁓bargain; that is, a piece or part of unmeasured ground, by the lump, for such price as can be agreed upon. Ibid. 184 The great inconvenience that attends this Tut-work or bargains by the lump or by the fathom, is, that if the ground proves hard and chargeable in the working, the labourer has no ability to go through with it. 1790 Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., To do work by the tut, or tote; to undertake it by the great. West. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxvi. (ed. 3) 252 Tutwork..consists in sinking shafts, driving levels, and making excavations. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw. etc. xv. 567 Persons performing the work under the captains in the various parts of mines may..be divided into tributers, tutworkmen, and labourers. 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 147 The tutworkers, or tutmen, can readily judge of the hardness of the ground to be excavated. Ibid. 152 Dolcoath miners,..blasting and breaking, tut⁓working and tributing. Ibid. 175 Details of Expenses... Tutwork Bargains. 1874 J. H. Collins Metal Mining 40 Shafts are sunk and levels driven, in Cornwall and elsewhere, at a fixed rate per lineal fathom... This form of bargain is called tutwork. 1906 G. R. Lewis in Victoria Co. Hist., Cornw. I. 568/2 The workmen..are, either tribute, tut, or daymen,..the tut worker contracting, at a certain rate for the sinking of shafts and..driving of levels. |
b. Also in agricultural work (in s.w. counties).
| 1800 Sir J. Call in Commun. to Board of Agric. II. 482 Labourers and mechanics, who, instead of living with their employers,..have..undertaken tet-work, or worked for daily hire. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. ii. 401 The [Dorset] labourers are paid by ‘tut’ work, the dung-put fillers being paid by the square yard, and the spreaders and ploughmen by the acre. 1865 Daily Tel. 16 Nov. 3/5 He had had only one week of tut-work since harvest, when he earned 1s. extra. Mr. Bartlett..admitted that,..when he worked by the day, he gave him only 8s. a week, but he let him have his thatching and other tut-work, including hedging. |
▪ III. tut, int. (n.3)
(tʌt)
Also 6 tutt, -e, 9 Sc. tuts. β. 9 Sc. toot, tout; toots.
[A natural utterance; the spelling tut sometimes represents the palatal click (also spelt tchick, tck). Cf. also hut tut, hoot toot, hout tout s.v. hoot int.]
An ejaculation (often reduplicated) expressing impatience or dissatisfaction with a statement, notion, or proceeding, or contemptuously dismissing it. (The Sc. toot, toots, expresses mild expostulation.)
| a 1529 Skelton Caudatos Anglos 27 Shake thy tayle, Scot, lyke a cur, For thou beggest at euery mannes dur: Tut, Scot, I sey, Go shake thy dog, hey! 1536 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. xxxvi. 282 [He said, to what she had spoken, as it seems, in her own defence] Tut, tut, tut [and shaking his head three or four times]. a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. ii. (Arb.) 14 Tut I owe nought. 1580 Lupton Sivqila 18 Alteration (quoth you) tutte, it is wonderful. 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 67 Tut, tut, my mercie serues to maime my selfe. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.) 57 Tut, tell not me of your impatience. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. v. i. 7 Tut, I am in their bosomes, and I know Wherefore they do it. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v. i, I come,..once more, to ask pardon... Tut, boy, a trifle. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 200 North. I wish you would review these four volumes... Shepherd. Tuts! What's the use o' reviewin? 1859 Thackeray Virgin. xc, Tut, tut!..let us hear no more of this nonsense! 1865 ‘Lewis Carroll’ Alice's Adv. ix, ‘Tut, tut, child!’ said the Duchess. ‘Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.’ |
| β 1805 M{supc}Indoe Poems 71 Guillie said, toots, We'll have that there's no doubts. 1818 Scott in Lockhart Life xlii. (Oct.), He..rebuked the Captain with ‘Toots, Adam! toots, Adam!’ 1835 Carrick Laird of Logan (1841) 137 Toot, man, haud your tongue. 1896–99 in Eng. Dial. Dict. |
b. n. The (or an) utterance of this exclamation, or a sound resembling this.
| 1676 Mace Musicks Mon. 109 The Tut, is a Grace,..is a sudden taking away the Sound of any Note..in such a manner, as it will seem to cry Tut. 1894 Donovan With Wilson in Matabeleland 229 The incessant ‘tut-tut tut’ of the Maxims. Ibid. 232 Each ‘tut-tut’ represents a bullet, at the rate of two to three hundred a minute. 1906 Daily Chron. 16 Jan. 6/7 There should be fixed stopping places [for motor-busses]... They would save many Balfourian ‘Tut-tuts’. |
▪ IV. † tut, n.4
obs. var. tit, teat.
| 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus iii. 168 Parts of the Body..such as have no manifest Use, but serve only to beautifie, as the Peacock's Tail,..the Tuts and Beard of a Man [orig. viris mammæ atque barba]. |
▪ V. † tut, n.5
app. a var. of toute Obs., buttocks.
| 13.. Cursor M. 28003 (Cott.) If þou..has bituix hir scankes gan, Or tirid or [? read hir] tut or skirt uptan. |
▪ VI. tut, v.
Freq. reduplicated as tut-tut, etc.
[f. tut n.3]
1. intr. To utter the exclamation ‘tut’.
| 1832 Carrick in Whistlebinkie (1890) I. 99 Toots, sic nonsense. You may toots awa, but it's true sense, Mem. 1849 Lytton Caxtons viii. iii, In another moment the member of Parliament had forgotten the statist, and was pishing and tutting over the Globe or the Sun. 1873 M. E. Braddon Str. & Pilgr. iii. x, The doctors had simpered at her, and tut-tuted, and patted her gently on the head. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. ii, He laughed and tut-tutted. |
2. trans. To express disapproval of by the exclamation ‘tut’; to say disapprovingly.
| 1972 Times 10 Nov. 7/2 He [sc. President Nixon] felt sure some of his ideas would be ‘tut-tutted’ by ‘the Georgetown cocktail set’. 1975 Nature 3 Jan. 1/2 The authors never address the problem, instead tut-tutting that university geology courses are unsuited to the demands of petroleum geology. 1984 A. Carter Nights at Circus iii. vii. 239 But when he embarrassedly confessed there'd been no bang nor damage because the dynamite was damp, I'd ‘tut-tutted’ his inefficiency. |
Hence ˈtutting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions i. i. 25 Ted..was shaking his head and..making a loud tut-tutting noise. 1947 Manch. Guardian Weekly 30 Oct. 8/3 Great and glossy cars rolled up in smooth procession. Into this a taxi-cab had strayed, to be hurriedly diverted with much tutt-tutting by police officers into the unimportant wastes of Millbank. 1962 John o' London's 19 Apr. 386/2, I simply could not see what all the tutting was about. 1976 T. Heald Let Sleeping Dogs Die ix. 183 She sucked her teeth and made little tutting noises. 1984 Times 11 June 6/6 There was much tut-tutting and an agreement that something should be done. |