▪ I. tote, n.1 Now dial.
(təʊt)
Also Sc. tot (tɔːt, toːt).
[Short for total: cf. tot n.3]
1. The total amount, number, or sum. Mostly in pleonastic phrase the whole tote.
| 1771–2 Ess. fr. Batchelor (1773) II. 40 That this was the whole tote of his case is notoriously known. 1774 Foote Cozeners iii. Wks. 1799 II. 180 My bill?..what is the tote? a 1801 R. Gall Poems, Tint Quey (1819) 37 Where the hale tot, for fear o' skaith, Were fley'd to speak aboon their breath. 1810 Bentham Mem. & Corr. Wks. 1843 X. 460 Let me have the whole tote. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 384 Our gals—the whole tote of them. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. i. iv, Only myself of the whole tot was accustomed to the handling of iron. 1905 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (from Northumbld. to E. Anglia and Cornwall, with long ō). |
2. Dial. and colloq. abbrev. of total abstainer (also tot). Also colloq. (orig. Austral.) of totalizator; loosely, a lottery; hence tote board, tote double, tote-man, tote-shop, tote ticket.
| c 1870 Music Hall Song (Farmer), By all of his mates called the Tote. 1887 Mather Nor'ard of the Dogger 239 The fishermen are all ‘totes’. 1891 E. Kinglake Australian at H. 74 Altogether, bookmakers, ‘tote’ proprietors, sweep promotors, in spite of occasional fines of {pstlg}50 and {pstlg}100..drive a roaring trade in Australia. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 8 Mar. 5/1 One of his audience called out: ‘Are you a ‘tot.’? ‘Yes’, the Bishop replied. ‘All right, go on, then; if you wasn't I wouldn't listen to you’. 1902 Ibid. 25 July 1/3 You..walk into the money order department and deposit the amount you would have invested on the Tote. 1906 Daily Chron. 3 Aug 4/7 Nearly 2,000..entering the gambling dens or ‘tote-shops’. 1926 Spectator 9 Jan. 45/2 The ‘tote’ goes steadily on and the bookies do a roaring trade secretly. 1927 Glasgow Herald 30 Apr. 9 Information will be given on the legal and practical aspects of the ‘tote’. 1930 Cambridge Daily News 25 Sept. 5/7 In the Tote Double on the 2.30..the winning dividend was {pstlg}10 13s. 9d. 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 3 May 14/4 (heading) Ticket a second expected of electric ‘tote’ at racing meet. 1945 Daily Herald 31 Aug. 3/4 A fraud by which a considerable sum..was obtained with forged Tote tickets at Harringay Greyhound Stadium..is thought to have been carefully planned by a gang. 1950 Amer. Speech XXV. 304/2 A tote board is a board where odds, payoffs, time of race and numbers of winners are posted in electric lights. 1966 Listener 27 Oct. 605/1 Further along there was a board showing the latest stock prices on Wall Street:..Zurichers watch them in much the same spirit as race-goers watch the tote. 1974 Times 26 Nov. 16/4 Young women were selling tote tickets through the window. 1975 Ox. Compan. Sports & Games 495/2 The Tote also operates ‘doubles’, ‘trebles’, and ‘jack⁓pot’ prizes for correct forecasts. 1976 Star (Sheffield) 30 Nov., The money was raised through totes and the fund is being wound up with a final pay-out because income was not enough to keep it going. 1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. 2–8/4 The tote at Ellerslie, in line with the general trend this year, was up 22 per cent. |
▪ II. tote, n.2
(təʊt)
Also 9 toat.
[app. f. tote, obs. and dial. form of toot v.1 to project, stick out. (R. Holme belonged to Cheshire, where the vb. is still tote.)]
The handle of a carpenter's plane.
| 1678 Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 61 A Fore Plain. a The Tote. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 352/2 All the difference is in the Tote or Handle, which every Workman maketh according to his own Fancy. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 243. 1873 Routledge's Yng. Gentl. Mag. July 503/1 The handle [of a jack plane] is called a toat or horn. 1901 J. Black's Illustr. Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 10 The jack plane is used by grasping the ‘tote’, or handle, firmly with the right hand, placing the left hand on the fore part of the plane [etc.]. |
▪ III. † tote, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
Of doubtful origin and meaning; recorded only in the passage quoted. Prob. = MDu. tote, pl. toten, ‘the point or toe of a shoe’; from the same root as prec.
The suggestion has also been made that totez is a verb (viz. tote, toot v.1), and that toez or totz ‘toes’ has been omitted before it, the reading being his toez totez oute ‘his toes peep out’: cf. his ton toteden oute ‘his toes peeped out’ (P. Pl. Crede 425).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 41 His tabarde to-torne and his totez oute. |
▪ IV. tote, n.4
[f. tote v.]
a. An act of carrying or transporting (Webster, 1911). b. ellipt. = tote bag below.
| 1959 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring–Summer 68 Cowhide Bag... 2 side zip pockets in this top-zipper tote. Rayon lined. 1967 Observer 24 Dec. 15/7 A Twiggy Fashion Tote, ‘for shopping and surfing’. 1979 Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 5 Apr. 24/6 Remember that an open bag, like a tote may make access to its contents easier for you, but it also means access is easier for a pickpocket. |
c. tote bag, a large hand-bag or shoulder-bag; tote box, a portable box for small items.
| 1900 in N. & Q. (1904) 27 Aug. 162/1 The Watson *Tote Bag..best thing..for carrying coat, camera,..lunch, &c. 1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Sept. 2/6 Tote Bags—Great for knitting supplies, shopping. 1982 M. Millar Mermaid x. 108 A girl entered, carrying an oversized canvas tote bag with the name Gretchen printed on it. |
| 1917 Machinery (N.Y.) July 957/1 The New Britain Machine Co...makes these *tote boxes of steel, and they are designed in such a way that they may be stacked up to economize in floor space. 1951 Urquhart & Boyle Materials Handling Case Bk. 7/1 If the parts are small and are handled in a tote box, then each operator must: 1. Position the totebox of pieces to be worked [etc.]. 1966 Guardian 18 Apr. 6/1 Tote boxes are also available with cushion tops and back cushions. |
▪ V. tote, v. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
(təʊt)
Also toat.
[In current use 1676–7; origin unascertained.
For an alleged Negro origin there is no foundation; the quot. 1676–7 from Virginia does not refer to Negroes; later the word is found well-established in the New England States; evidence for an Indian origin is also wanting.]
a. trans. To carry as a burden or load; to transport, esp. supplies to, or timber, etc. from, a logging-camp or the like. Also, to wear or carry regularly as part of one's equipment; to take (a person) with one; to tote fair, to carry one's fair share; fig. to act or deal fairly or honestly.
For catena of quots. see Mr. A. Matthews in N. and Q. 10th Ser. II. 161, and Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v.
| 1676–7 (Feb.) Grievances of Glouc. Co. (Va.), (Col. Office Rec., P.R.O. 5/1371, p. 326), They [Governor's out-guard] were by Beverly comanded to goe to work, fall trees and mawle and toat rails, which many..refusing to doe, he presently disarm'd them. 1769 Boston Gaz. 7 Aug. 3/2 The next Morning he was toated on board the Rippon, in a Canoe..or some other small boat. 1781 J. Witherspoon Wks. (1802) IV. 470 Tot is used for carry, in some of the southern states. 1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S. 389, I..cart all the wood, tote the wheat to the mill. Note, Tote is the American for to carry. 1807 W. Irving Life & Lett. (1864) I. 189 At Baltimore I made a stay of two days, during which I was toted about town. 1809 Monthly Anthology VII. 264 Tote is marked by Mr. Webster ‘Virg.’ But we believe it a native vulgarism of Massachusetts. 1812 J. J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 38 (Arnold's Exped. 1775) We slided glibly along, over passages where a few days previously, we had toted our canoes. 1823 J. A. Quitman in J. F. H. Claiborne Life Quitman (1860) I. 85 The belles..‘tote’ their fans with the air of Spanish señoritas. 1828 J. Hall in Western Souvenir for 1829 269 This is a poor shooting-iron..it might do for young men to ‘tote’ in a settlement, but it is of no use in the woods. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vii, Is that ar man going to tote them bar'ls over to-night? 1866 C. H. Smith Bill Arp, so Called 147, I don't think you tote fair. 1883 A. Forbes in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 605 His lordship and the lady had toted the trunk on to a cart. 1892 Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 117 The Government Bullock Train toted its load. 1896 Current Hist. (Buffalo, N.Y.) VI. 865 The trust maintained a regular force of inspectors to keep all the members of the pool ‘toting fair’. 1909 R. Parrish My Lady of South viii. 95 Thar warn't many Danielses left able ter tote a gun. 1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. iii. 194 The old merchant used to tote about commodities. 1952 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid iv. 89 One who, men say, totes round his home-gods Everywhere. 1975 Nation 20 Dec. 659/1 Others wear official-looking uniforms and tote service revolvers. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds vi. 110 He toted the infants with easy familiarity. 1979 Chatelaine (Canada) Jan. 24/3, I toted a canvas bag over one shoulder. 1983 E. Reveley In Good Faith iii. 59 They still tote the two original evangelists around with them but I think that's mostly so's they can keep getting money from the mother church. |
b. The verb-stem in combination with a n.; as tote-pole, tote-team, tote-wagon; tote-load (see quot. 1859); tote-road, a rough temporary road for conveying goods to or from a settlement, camp, etc.
| 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 296–7 The Indian was greatly surprised that we should have taken what he called a ‘tow’ (i.e., tote or toting or supply) road, instead of a carry path. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Americanisms, Tote-load, as much as one can carry. Southern. 1887 M. Roberts West. Avernus 71 On this ‘toat’ or freight-road the wagons went east during one part of the day and west during the other. 1895 F. A. C. Emerson in Century Mag. July 478/2 One might visit every one of the hundreds of logging camps [in Maine]..and he would find each one furnished with its separate ‘tote road’, ‘tote team’ and ‘toter’. |
Hence ˈtoter, one engaged in toting, a carrier, teamster, etc.; ˈtoting vbl. n.
| 1857 Toting [see b. above]. 1860 Olmsted Journ. Back Country i. 48 Each gang was attended by a ‘water-toter’. 1895 Toter [see b. above]. 1911 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 362/2 So accustomed are some of them to this ‘toting’ of loads. |
▪ VI. tote
var. toot n.1; obs. or dial. f. toot v.1