tallboy
(ˈtɔːlbɔɪ)
[f. tall a. + (app.) boy.]
1. A tall-stemmed glass or goblet. Now local.
| 1676 D'Urfey Mad. Fickle ii. i, Bella... Where shall we meet at night? Maul. At Lambs with the Fidles and a Talboy. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xliii. 195 Cups, Goblets, and Talboys of Gold, Silver, and Cristal. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tall-boy, a Pottle or two Quart-pot full of Wine. 1881 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., The Maister wants a jug o' ale..an' two tumbler-glasses—'e said not to sen' them tall-boys, kigglin' [= tottering]. |
2. A tall chest of drawers (often raised on legs), usually in two parts, one standing on the other, the lower sometimes projecting beyond the upper; sometimes applied to a chest of drawers or a bureau standing on a dressing-table. Also attrib.
| 1769 Dublin Merc. 16–19 Sept. 2/2 Chamber chest, tallboy, dining tables, two side-boards. 1884 W. Sussex Gaz. 25 Sept., Mahogany tallboy chest of drawers. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 June 3/3 Tall-Boys..those double chests of drawers which are to be found in nearly all old-fashioned houses. 1909 Civ. Serv. Stores Assoc. May 451, 18th century Mahogany Tall Boy Chest, with pull-out-tray in centre. |
3. A kind of tall chimney-pot.
| 1884 Daily Tel. 28 Jan. (Cassell), Scores of pots, tallboys, cowls..swept from the chimney-stacks of the Metropolis on Saturday night. 1904 Daily Chron. 21 June 3/5, I was fixing her some ‘tallboys’ on the chimneys. |
4. humorous. ? A great man, a ‘big pot’.
| 1820 Examiner No. 644. 513/2 To play the coxcomb, pedant, and tall-boy. Ibid. No. 651. 629/2 The Imperial Tall-boy of Russia. |