▪ I. token, n.
(ˈtəʊkən)
Forms: α. 1–3 tác(e)n, 2 takan, 2–3 takenn (Orm.), 3–7 taken, 4 takein, 4–6 takin, -yn, 6 taikin, 8 -en, 7 tackyn. β. 2–4 tocne, 3 tocken, 3–5 tokne, 4 -ene, -in, -un, 5 toocun, tookne, tokyng, 5–6 -yn, tooken, (6 tukne), 7 toakin, 4– token.
[OE. tácen, tácn; = OFris. têken, têkn, teiken (WFris. teiken, † teeckne), OS. têcan (MLG., MDu., LG. têken, Du. teeken), OHG. zeihhan (MHG., Ger. zeichen), ON. teikn (tákn from OE.), Sw. tecken, Da., Norw. tegn, all neuter:—OTeut. *taik-no{supm} (in Goth. taikns fem.:—*taiknis), cognate with *taik-jan, OE. tǽcean to show, teach.]
1. a. Something that serves to indicate a fact, event, object, feeling, etc.; a sign, a symbol. in token of, as a sign, symbol, or evidence of.
| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. viii. (1890) 42, & heora stowe bræddon & weorðodon, swa swa siᵹefæst tacon. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxviii. 196 To tacne ðæt he his ᵹeweald ahte. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 135 Nis þat non god tocne of ripe manne. a 1300 Cursor M. 16574 Þe rode þai scop þan as þai wald, Als we þe taken se. c 1315 Shoreham vi. 15 In tokne þat pays scholde be By-tuexte god and manne. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour lviii. E vij, [The queen] shewed hym many signes and tokenes of loue. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxiv. 266 Charlemayne..kyssyd Huon in token of peace. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xiii. 95 Bearing..a satchell ful of haye in token of their bondage and seruice. 1686 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 409 Friendly cautions are Tokens of Love. 1778 F. Burney Evelina (1784) II. i. 5 He gave him..a cordial slap on the back, and some other equally gentle tokens of satisfaction. 1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iii, The hollow tree, from which the mists had drawn off, leaving a diamond token on every leaf. |
† b. A sign of the zodiac.
Obs. rare.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 164 Sy þæt ðonne þære sunnan ryne beo on þam tacne þe man uirgo nemneð. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 303 Seo sunne wunað on þam twelf tacnum. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings xxiii. 5 Them that brent incense..to the Sonne, and the Mone, and the twelue tokens, and to all y⊇ hoost of heauen. |
† c. An ensign, a standard. (Only
OE.)
| a 1000 Gloss. Prudentius 45 Eal werod ᵹehwyrfedum tacnum [versis signis]..foron. a 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) lxxiii. 6 [lxxiv. 4] Hi asetton tacna heora tacna. |
† d. The sign of an inn, etc.
Obs. rare—0.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 495/2 Tokne, or sygne of ane in, idem quod seny, supra (P. signe of an ostry). |
e. Coal-mining (
S. Wales). A thin seam of coal indicating the vicinity of a thicker bed.
| 1883 in Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining. |
f. Semiotics, etc. A particular and individual sign, as opposed to the type of which it is an instance.
Cf. type n.1 8 e.
| 1908 C. S. Peirce in Coll. Papers (1958) VIII. 240, I devoted much study to my ten trichotomies of signs... I..called..an Actisign a Token, a Famisign a Type. 1955 N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Linguistic Theory (microfilm, Mass. Inst. Technol.) i. 31 The assumption..that it is possible to assign a meaning to each utterance token to be compared with other meanings. 1971 J. B. Carroll et al. Word Freq. Bk. p. xix, A type is a particular word, counted just once, regardless of how many times it occurs; a token is any of the individual occurrences of the type. 1979 Computers & Humanities X. 135/1 Without further intervention concordances remain concordances of word tokens and not of headwords. |
2. a. A sign or mark indicating some quality, or distinguishing one object from others; a characteristic mark.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. iv. 15 God him sealde tacn, þæt nan þæra..hine ne ofsloᵹe. a 1300 Cursor M. 6124 Bot in þat huse noght he yode Þar he fand taken wit þe blode. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. v. (Bodl. MS.), Whanne childrenne voice chaungeþ it is a tokene of Puberte. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 247 Þat beren the tokne vpon hire hedes of a mannes foot. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 281 A maister armoureur..in his werkis had a takyn that his werkis war knawin by. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. 95 The tokens of a valyant and renowmed captaine are, his woundes and hurtes. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 115 b, Virgill..doth..describe the tokens of a good Horse. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xiv, The tokens on his helmet tell The Bruce, my Liege: I know him well. 1822 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Chimney-Sweepers, One unfortunate wight..by tokens was discovered to be no chimney-sweeper. |
b. A spot on the body indicating disease,
esp. the plague. Now
rare or
Obs.| 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxii. xiii. (1678) 500 [In Plague] spots (vulgarly called Tokens) appear over all the body. 1666 J. H. Treat. Gt. Antidote 5 The Tokens are, I am confident, Marks sent from God, and it is as impossible to cure any that have them, as to contradict the Divine Decree. 1722 De Foe Plague (1756) 225 Those Spots they call'd the Tokens were really gangreen Spots, or mortified Flesh in small Knobs as broad as a little silver Peny, and hard as a piece of Callus or Horn. 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 932 In the seventeenth century they [purpuric patches] were known as the ‘Tokens’. Ibid. 934 Petechial eruptions or ‘tokens’. |
3. a. Something serving as proof of a fact or statement; an evidence.
| Beowulf (Z.) 1655 Beowulf maþelode..hwæt we þe þas sælac..brohton tires to tacne. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John vi. 30 Hwæt dest þu to tacne þæt we ᵹeseon & ᵹelyfon? c 1200 Vices & Virt. 31 And wel ilieue be are tacne ðe he hafð iȝiuen me. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2860 Moyses tolde hem ðat bliðe bode, And let hem sen tockenes fro gode. c 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 28 Þis schal be to þe þe tokne of perfite curyng when þou seez þe linne cloutez..to be drye. 1517 in Acts Parlt. Scotl. (1875) XII. 38/1 And in takin of this oure consent and oblissing hereintill We..have [affi]xt to thir presentis oure Selis. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxi. 246 He shal shew tokens that my sayenge is trewe. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. iii. M.'s Wks. 1851 VII. 73 Money bears the Prince's Image, not as a token of its being his, but of its being good Metal. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) I. 6 A token of his being, and of his being God. 1769 Cook Voy. round World i. viii. (1773) 79 These..were brought as tokens of peace and amity. 1843 Mill Logic i. iii. §7 By what token could it manifest its presence? |
† b. Something remaining as evidence of what formerly existed; a vestige, trace, ‘sign’.
Obs.| 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 49 There remayneth at this daye no token of the laborious Tabernacle whiche Moises buylded. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 518 Yet wee with all our seeking could see no tokens of any such Wall. Ibid. 547 There be many tokens remaining of old antiquity. |
† 4. In biblical use, An act serving to demonstrate divine power or authority;
= sign n. 10.
Obs. or
arch.| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lviii. 443 Ðone Nazareniscan Hælend ðæt wæs afandon wer..on mæᵹenum & tacnum. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John x. 41 Witodlice ne worhte iohannes nan tacn [c 1160 Hatton G. takan]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 91 Þa warhte god feole tacne on þan folke þurh þere apostlan hondan. c 1200 Ormin 14068 Þiss takenn wrohhte Jesu Crist. 1382 Wyclif Acts ii. 22 Jhesu of Nazareth, a man prouyd of God in ȝou by vertues [gloss or myraclis], and wondris, and tokenes. 1535 Coverdale Josh. xxiv. 17 The Lorde oure God..did soch greate tokens [1611 signs] before oure eyes. 1611 Bible Ps. cxxxv. 9 Who sent tokens [1885 (R.V.) signs] and woonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt. Ibid. lxv. 8 They also that dwell in the vttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens [so 1885 (R.V.)]. |
5. A sign or presage of something to come; an omen, portent, prodigy.
Obs. (
exc. as included in 1).
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 117 Ealle þa tacno & þa forebeacno þa þe her ure Drihten ær toweard sæᵹde. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 91 Ic sende min tacna ȝeond þa eorðe. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5927 Þis was as a tokne þat to comene was. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4733 Þe grete day of dome, Agayn whilk alle þir takens sal come. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 27 If it brynne, it es a gude taken. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 495/2 Tokne, of a thynge to cumme or cummynge, pronosticum. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 21 The weary Sunne..by the bright Tract of his fiery Carre, Giues token of a goodly day to morrow. a 1628 Sir J. Beaumont Bosworth F. 73 Some mark his Words, as Tokens fram'd t'express The sharp Conclusion of a sad Success. 1791 Cowper Iliad iv. 455 By unpropitious tokens interfered. |
6. A signal given; a sign to attract attention or give notice. Now
rare or
Obs.| a 1000 Prose Life Guthlac xi. (Goodwin) 54 Comon þær þry men to þære hyðe, and þær tacn sloᵹon. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 495/2 Tokne, wythe eye or wythe the hand, nutus. c 1450 Merlin xviii. 292 Thei sowned theire hornes and tymbres and trumpes, and that was token that thei wolde haue socoure. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 452 As a token or watche worde, they cried that the Frenchemen were vp in harnesse. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 33/2 He gaue the token to fight vnto his souldiers. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. i, I gave tokens to let them know, that they might do with me what they pleased. 1833 H. Martineau Fr. Wines & Pol. iii. 43 Charles lifted his finger in token of silence. |
7. a. A sign arranged or given to indicate a person; a word or material object employed to authenticate a person, message, or communication; a mark giving security to those who possess it; a password.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 147 And [Judas] tolde hem a tokne how to knowe with ihesus. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxiii. 80 (Harl. MS.), & told to hir all the prive tokyns þat were ysaid bytwene hem two. 1561 in Exch. Rolls Scotl. XIX. 460 Delyverit to Peter Cokburne, quha come with ane takin fra George Symson, the saidis George lettres. 1716 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 189 Admitting no one..but one or two, to whom I had given tokens that I might know when they were at the Door. 1827 Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 270 It is customary for the King to give any person..travelling specially ‘on King's business’ a token [by which he may be known]. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxi, You bring..some note or token from my uncle. |
b. Railways. (See
quot. 1936.)
| 1936 Gloss. Terms Railway Signalling (B.S.I.) 51 Token, the authority which must be carried by trainmen to permit a train to travel over a prescribed section of a single line. 1968 O. S. Nock Railway Enthusiast's Encycl. 273 The tokens are engraved with the stations at each end of the sections to which they apply. 1971 D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana iv. 20 Tokens for single-line working were frequently fitted with a looped end and attached to a vertical post near a junction with the main line. |
† 8. a. A badge worn to indicate service or party.
| 1472 Coventry Leet Bk. 374 Noo Reteindres, lyuerees, signes ne tokenys of clothing, nor othir wyse be taken, had nor vsed. 1516 Sel. Cas. Star Chamb. (Selden) II. 115 Sworne..that he shall not be receyued ne were any lyuerey or token of or with any lord Gentilman or..other personne foreyn. 15.. Battle of Balrinnes in Maidment Sc. Ball. (1868) I. 253 He that thought not for to blyne His mistres' tockin taks; They kist it first, and set it syne Upone their helms and jackes. |
† b. pl. Armorial bearings, heraldic arms.
Obs.| 1562 Leigh Armorie 28 b, In the first inuention of them, they were not called Armes, but Tokens. |
9. Something given as an expression of affection, or to be kept as a memorial; a keepsake or present given especially at parting.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1273 (Dido) Send hir letres tokens broches and rynges. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 36 For a tookne to remembre hire husbond. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 306 A token from Troylus. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets iii. 62 Accept o' this love-taiken. 1848 Dickens Dombey v, I must present your friend with some little token. |
10. a. Something given as the symbol and evidence of a right or privilege, upon the presentation of which the right or privilege may be exercised.
| 1538 Elyot, Tessera,..a token [ed. 1548 of leade, leather or other thyng] gyuen to people to receyue corne of the kinges almes. 1548 Ibid., Tesseræ nummariæ, tokens geuen to men to receiue a summe of money by. 1552 Huloet, Token geuen vnto people in fayres and markets when they bye cattell..tessera, tesserula. |
b. spec. A stamped piece of lead or other metal given (originally after confession) as a voucher of fitness to be admitted to the communion: in recent times used in Scotland in connexion with the Presbyterian Communion service, but now generally represented by a ‘communion card’.
| 1534 in Kitts Churchw. Acc. St. Martin in the Fields 37 Item Receued and gathred for howssellyng tokons in the Churche xiijs vij{supd}. 1583 Churchw. Acc. St. James' in Bristol past & pres. (1881) II. 37 Paid for tokens to deliver to the howselynge people at Easter, vid. 1608 (Feb. 24) Churchw. Acc. St. Martin in the Fields 585 It is ordered That every Communicant, for the generall Communions at Easter, shall the day before Their Receiving, Repaire to the Minister, or Curate, and then and their pay his dueties and take a token, and Restore his Token, at his Comming the next day to the Communion. 1611 Cotgr., Marreau, the token of lead, etc., giuen for a remembrance, in Churches, to such as meane to receiue the Communion. 1626 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 184 The Clarke shall deliver out a token for euerye persone that will receyve [the Sacrament]. 1645 Dalgety Sess. Rec. in W. Rose Past. Wk. in Covt. Times vi. (1877) 135 All that wants tokens were forbidden to approoch the table. 1791 Boswell Johnson 27 Aug. an. 1773, Her husband was in the church distributing tokens. 1888 Barrie Auld Licht Idylls iii, Without a token, which was a metal lozenge, no one could take the sacrament. 1896 ‘Ian Maclaren’ Kate Carnegie, A Moderate, The women had their tokens wrapt in snowy handkerchiefs. Ibid., Domsie went down one side and Drumsheugh the other, collecting the tokens, whose clink, clink in the silver dish was the only sound. |
11. a. A stamped piece of metal, often having the general appearance of a coin, issued as a medium of exchange by a private person or company, who engage to take it back at its nominal value, giving goods or legal currency for it.
From the reign of Queen Elizabeth to 1813, issued by tradesmen, large employers of labour, etc., to remedy the scarcity of small coin, and sometimes in connexion with the truck-shop system.
bank-tokens, silver tokens for 5
s., 3
s., 1
s. 6
d., were issued by the Bank of England in 1811: see
quots. 1812, 1832.
| 1598–1604 Tauerne token [see tavern n. 4]. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iii. iv, Buy a tokens worth of great pinnes. 1638 Sir R. Cotton Abstr. Rec. Tower 25 Retailers of victuals and small wares..using their owne tokens; in and about London there are above three thousand that one with another cast yearely five pound a peice of leaden tokens. 1757 Jos. Harris Coins 65 To supply the want of very small silver coins, a kind of Tokens or substitutes have been instituted all made of copper. 1812 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 150/1 The Silver Tokens issued by the Bank of England..Silver Tokens of 3s. each... The weight of the 1s. 6d. token is 4 dwts. 17½ grains. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xiv. (ed. 3) 131 Silver tokens for various sums were issued by the Bank of England. |
b. A voucher exchangeable for goods or services;
book token: see
book n. 19;
gift-token: see
gift n. 9 b;
record token: see
record n. 14. Also, a small disc or other piece representing or resembling a coin,
esp. one used to operate a machine or in exchange for goods or services. Freq. with defining word.
| 1908 R. Brooke Let. Mar. (1968) 123 Dear Mother, I am so sorry about the Boots token. I quite failed to realize..that it was wanted at once. 1934 Webster, Token,..the metal fare or ticket issued by a transportation company. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §560/4 Scrip; tokens; coupons; etc. 1954 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 26 July 16/2 If the Department of Urbiculture will hand out free bus tokens, I'm not too much against the ideas. 1961 Webster, Token,..a game counter. 1965 Ayllon & Azrin in Jrnl. Exper. Anal. Behav. VIII. 358/2 Special metal tokens were used as conditioned reinforcers. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. viii. 174 The milk tokens..are put out for milk last thing at night. 1968 Listener 29 Aug. 266/3 The patients are paid with tokens resembling money for acting normally, and..behaving inappropriately or psychotically results in a loss of tokens. 1973 People's Jrnl. (Inverness) 4 Aug. 16/4 A little boy who joined in the scramble collected, in addition to money, nine milk tokens, at that time each valid for ‘a pinta’. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 18 Nov. 18/5 Those who come to watch the show and contribute nothing (or only fruit machine tokens!) if the show is to be held again. 1977 Washington Post 16 June dc3 The subway will no longer accept the 10-cent student bus tokens. 1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1400/3 Boards range in style from Cruikshank's ‘Comic Game of the Great Exhibition of 1851’ to the Mondrian simplicity of ‘Quartette’ and counters or tokens are provided. 1980 J. Barnes Metroland ii. iv. 113 Orange ten-shilling notes at Christmas and Boots tokens. 1980 Washington Post Mag. 29 June 20 The valet reminds you to present your parking token to your waiter 15 minutes before you plan to leave so that your car will be waiting. 1981 M. Gee Dying, in Other Words 111 The milkman, who was dishonest, and sometimes stole Clothilde's token, leaving no milk. 1982 Christian Sci. Monitor 15 Nov. 1 A collector of transportation tokens. 1983 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. I. i. 1/1 The price of bus and subway tokens..must be increased. |
12. Printing. A measure or quantity of presswork; a certain number of sheets of paper (usually 250 pulls on a hand-press) passed through the press.
token-sheet, the last sheet of each token, turned down to facilitate counting the whole number.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxv. ¶5 A Token..for Half a Press, viz. a Single Press-man, is generally but five Quires..: But if it be for a Whole Press, it contains Ten Quires. Ibid. xxiv. ¶9 Having Wet his first Token, he doubles down a..corner of the upper Sheet of it..: This Sheet is called the Token-Sheet, as being a mark..to know how many Tokens of that Heap is Wrought-off. 1867 Brande & Cox Dict. Sc., etc., Token, in Printing [is] ten quires eighteen sheets of perfect paper, or 258 sheets. It is reckoned an hour's work for a hand press, of ordinary work. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 707/1 It has been mentioned that 250 sheets or a token per hour, printed on one side only, represent the work of two men at the hand-press. 1896 T. L. De Vinne Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing 427 It required much activity to pull a token in one hour... The full ream printed on both sides is rated as four tokens. |
13. In the Isle of Man: A legal summons: see quotations.
| 1724 Bp. Wilson in Keble Life xix. (1863) 638 If he owns it he is to have seven days' imprisonment and three penances in Church. If not he is to have a token to clear himself. 1726–31 Waldron Descr. Isle of Man (1865) 40 When a person has a mind to commence a suit against his neighbour for debt, he has no more to do than to take out a token, which is a piece of slate marked with the governour's name on it; and it is the same thing with an arrest in England. |
14. Weaving. (See
quot.)
| 1878 Barlow Weaving xv. 177 Several small bobbins with a little of the various colours of the weft that may be used, that is, when several kinds are employed. They are called tokens, and are raised by the Jacquard hooks attached, so as to remind the weaver which shuttle to use. |
15. Phrases (in which the sense of
token becomes vague).
a. by the same token or (somewhat
arch.)
by this (or that) token: (
a) on the same ground; for the same reason; in the same way; (
b) (
= F.
à telles enseignes que), ‘the proof of this being that’; introducing a corroborating circumstance, often weakened down to a mere associated fact that helps the memory or is recalled to mind by the main fact (now
arch. or
dial.).
Sense (a) represents the predominant modern use (and
app. that current in the 15th c.). Sense (b) occurs from 1600.
| 1463 Paston Lett. II. 134 And to this [course] Maister Markham prayed you to agre by the same token ye mevyd hym to sette an ende be twyx you and my masters your brethern. 1463 Will of Sir H. Stafford in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 200 When ye come to him by the same token that I said to thabbat, Sir, I have a goode quarrell, the which is the cause of my journey, by that token he will deliver the said writinges unto you. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, Ye may speke with him by the same token that he and y commyned toguyder of matiers touching your maisters sonne. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 307 Pand. I, a token from Troylus. Cres. By the same token, you are a Bawd. 1607 R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders i. xxxviii. 305 At Aix in Germany, they were accustomed to shew his breeches, together with the virgin Maries smocke, by the same token that [orig. à telles enseignes que] the smocke was big enough for a giant. 1659–60 Pepys Diary 28 Feb., Up in the morning and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending, by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before. 1662 Ibid. 13 Apr., I went to the Temple Church, and there heard another [sermon]: by the same tokens, a boy, being asleep, fell down a high seat to the ground. 1722 De Foe Plague (1756) 280 Others caused large Fires to be made..; by the same Token, that two or three were pleased to set their Houses on Fire, and so effectually sweetened them by burning them down to the Ground. 1857 Dickens in Househ. Words XVII. 46 Max..was a staunch Roman Catholic. (By this token: Many an argument have I had with him on religion). 1875 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 193/2 By the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three quarters long. 1907 P. Dare School to Stage vii. 126 To receive letters from people whom they do not know, and are, by the same token, never likely to know. 1945 B. MacDonald Egg & I (1946) i. i. 11 If you marry a doctor, don't whine because he doesn't keep the hours of a shoe clerk, and by the same token if you marry a shoe clerk, don't complain because he doesn't make as much money as a doctor. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird v. 66 I've dined out on a few stories about her. But not ones that matter. By the same token, she could have made quite a good thing about telling how she saw you..that night. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 701/1 By the same token, among the most interesting and valuable sections of this book are those which deal with technique. |
b. more by token: still more, the more so.
dial.| 1816 Scott Antiq. xl, Ane suldna speak ill o' the dead—mair by token, o' ane's cummer and neighbour. 1850 Hawthorne Scarlet L. xxi, Our only danger will be from drug or pill; more by token, as there is a lot of apothecary's stuff aboard. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. i, All this Jem swore he had seen, more by token that it was the very day he had been mole-catching on Squire Cass's land. |
16. a. attrib. and
Comb.:
† token-bell, ? a signal- or alarm-bell;
token booth U.S., a booth from which tokens are sold,
esp. those for obtaining tickets for a subway;
token coin,
coinage,
currency: see
token-money c;
token economy, in the treatment of behavioural disorders, the principle or practice of rewarding desirable behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for goods or privileges and punishing undesirable behaviour by withholding or forfeiting such tokens;
† token-girdle, ? a girdle mounted with amulets;
token pledge = sense 7;
token-proprium: see
token-money b;
token-reflexive a. (
Logic), denoting words the referent or temporal or spatial orientation of which is contextually determined,
e.g. ‘I’, ‘now’, ‘here’, ‘today’; also as
n.;
token-ring, a ring worn in token of an engagement or pledge;
token-sheet Printing (see 12);
† token-teller, an indicator;
token value: see
token-money c;
† tokenworth, the worth of a token (sense 11), the very least amount.
| 1486 in J. R. Boyle Hedon (1875) App. 130 Soluti pro undecim les *tokyngbelles hoc anno, iij.s. xj. d. |
| 1970 New Yorker 31 Oct. 123/1 Their reptile-papered basement..is a bit bigger than a *token booth. |
| 1897 Daily News 30 Nov. 4/6 The shilling..is declared to be..the twentieth part of a pound. No evil results follow from this fiction, because the shilling is a *token coin and because silver is not a legal tender, except for a comparatively trivial amount. |
| 1881 H. H. Gibbs Double Stand. 73 It would be necessary to re-coin all our silver *token-coinage. 1883 Times 14 July 5 Silver..[is] in this country in the nature of a token coinage. |
| 1893 Daily News 27 June 2/3 If so, the silver rupee will become ‘*token’ currency. |
| 1968 Ayllon & Azrin Token Economy ii. 16 We first conceived of the *token economy and its use as a motivational system for therapy during the early part of 1961. 1981 W. Reich in Bloch & Chodoff Psychiatr. Ethics iv. 59 The development of aversive techniques of control, ‘token economies’ and other forms of behaviour modification. |
| 1477 Croscombe Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 5 Sylver ryng gylt and a *token gyrdel of sylver. |
| 1896 A. Austin Eng. Darling i. iii, Only a *token pledge to make me free Of Alfred's camp at Athelney. |
| 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 78 The Traders were not oblig'd to take one anothers Penny⁓coyns or such like *Token-Propriums. |
| 1947 H. Reichenbach Elem. Symbolic Logic vii. 284 Words which refer to the corresponding token used in an individual act of speech, or writing..may therefore be called *token-reflexive words. 1949 Mind LVIII. 356 Personal pronouns are to be distinguished from personal proper names such as ‘Jones’, or ‘Fleur’,.. by their different use, the former ‘token reflexive’, the latter ‘proper name’. 1962 W. & M. Kneale Devel. Logic ii. 53 A sentence containing a token-reflexive taken out of context expresses no proposition at all. 1968 A. J. Ayer Origins of Pragmatism 156 With the exception of quantifiers and relative pronouns,..designations are token-reflexive. That is to say, their use is determined by the context. |
| 1840 Mrs. Norton Dream, etc. 296 By the true *token-ring upon thy hand. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 350 A pledge or token ring of remarkable interest. |
| 1574 Newton Health Mag. 29 For smellinge is the discouerer and *token teller of tast. |
| 1898 Daily News 30 Mar. 5/1 The closing of the Mints to the free coinage of silver, with the view of giving an artificial *token value to the coinage, was adopted. |
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. ii, Why? he makes no loue to her, do's he? Lit. Not a *tokenworth that euer I saw. |
b. passing into
adj. Serving as a token; pro forma; (purely) symbolic; constituting a gesture (only); minimal, nominal, perfunctory;
cf. statutory a. 3 b;
token estimate, a provisional statement of a sum of money, placed before Parliament to allow discussion to proceed;
token payment, (
a) the payment of a small proportion of a sum due, as an indication that the debt has not been repudiated; (
b) a nominal payment;
token stoppage,
strike, a brief strike to demonstrate strength of feeling only;
token vote, a vote of money on the basis of a token estimate.
| 1915 Political Q. May 147 For form's sake ‘token’ estimates were presented, on the basis of {pstlg}1,000 for each vote and {pstlg}100 for each appropriation in aid. 1923 Times 27 Feb. 18/3 On the Supplementary Vote of {pstlg}10 for Diplomatic and Consular Services..the anticipated savings under various subheads were rather larger than {pstlg}155,198, and would..be sufficient to cover the whole amount now asked for; but inasmuch as all but one of the subheads referred to new services, it had been thought right that a token vote of {pstlg}10 should be put down in order to provide the opportunity for discussing these new services. 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 1/7 The British Government..tendered a partial or ‘token’ payment of $10,000,000 to the United States ‘as an acknowledgment of the (war) debts pending a final settlement’. 1937 Ibid. 19 Oct. 6/1 British and French authorities have expressed belief that there are at least 100,000 Italians serving under Generalissimo Francisco Franco and have urged a ‘token’ withdrawal on that basis as a guarantee of good faith. 1941 Ibid. 28 June 6/3 Less than a week after launching its aggression, Berlin has requested other European states to dispatch ‘token forces’ to the battlefield. Ibid. 29 Aug. 12/3 They [sc. the Persians] have insured themselves against this..by making a token resistance and yielding to demonstrated superior force. 1947 Daily Mail 22 May 1 Civil Servants in some sections are considering ‘token’ strikes if their wages claims continue to drag on without result. 1954 Times 20 Jan. 6/7 Twenty-six workers employed by a Manchester contractor have been dismissed for participating in Monday's token stoppage. 1958 Listener 12 June 978/1 Some London railway workers vote in favour of an unofficial ‘token’ strike in support of busmen. 1960 Time 12 Dec. 56 The schools took in token Negroes. 1962 N.Y. Times Mag. 5 Aug. 11 The current notion that token integration will satisfy his people, says Dr. King, is an illusion. 1968 C. Brooke-Rose Between 7 More often the bathroom..has a token window on the hotel corridor or no window at all, merely a ventilation shaft. 1970 J. G. Farrell Troubles i. 10 For some reason—the poor quality of the soil or the proximity of the sea—vegetation has only made a token attempt to possess them. 1971 H. Macmillan Riding Storm xiv. 442, I..only agreed to a very small, almost a token, delivery of arms to Tunisia. 1972 D. E. Westlake Bank Shot ix. 64 He and his wife Linda were the token whites at this dinner party..the three other couples all being black. 1974 Times 21 May 7/8 No tightly run business will have ‘token’ women on the board. Each director must be able to offer some exceptional contribution. 1976 New Society 7 Oct. 28/3 The resistance is little more than token. 1979 J. Cooper Class iv. 82 ‘We've even got two Punk Rockers’ (rather like token blacks). |
Add:
[3.] c. A nominal or ‘token’ representative of an under-represented group. See sense 16 b below.
U.S.| 1968 C. Bird in Vital Speeches 15 Nov. 90/1 Like Negroes, they [sc. women] resent being tokens. 1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 26/4 Now the star-maker has decided to calm the libbers with another token—for weeks, everyone in the business has known that Primo was looking for ‘an Italian woman’. 1987 Amer. Sociol. Rev. LII. 575/2 Some evidence indicates that..male tokens have lower self-esteem than female tokens. |
▸
Computing. A marker whose presence or absence at a particular point in a networked system indicates the status of that point in some way;
esp. a sequence of bits used in a token ring.
| 1977 Proc. IFIP Congr. 428/2 When the ring is idle, the token continuously circulates around the ring. 1994 Computer Aug. 31/3 It uses a token-based circular pipeline and an advanced control pipeline (a look-ahead control that implements instruction prefetching and token prematching to reduce idle times caused by unsuccessful matches). 2004 Heating/Piping/Air Conditioning Engin. (Nexis) 1 Dec. 76 ARCnet defines the maximum amount of time that a network node can hold a token. |
▸
token ring n. Computing a network architecture in which the ability to transmit information is conferred on a particular node by the arrival of a token, which is passed continuously between nodes in a fixed order.
| 1978 SIGARCH Computer Archit. News 7 Aug. 69/2 There is no need for the process to wait for its *token ring before it sends the request to one of its son processes. 1993 Macworld Dec. 41/3 A remote networking server for Token Ring networks, the product allows either four or eight NetWare users to dial into their Token Ring network and work as if their Mac was simply another node on the network. 2004 J. Whittaker Cyberspace Handbk. v. 81 There are various alternatives to Ethernet for connecting computers on a network, such as the token ring network. |
▪ II. token, v. (
ˈtəʊkən)
Forms: α. 1
tácnian, 2
tacnien, 2–3
tacnen (
Orm. -enn), 3
taknen, 4
-nyn,
takenen, 4–6
takin,
-yn. β. 3
toknien,
-ny,
tocknen, 3–4
tokenen, 3–5
toknen, (5
tooken), 3–
token.
[OE. tácnian (also ᵹe-) = MLG. têkenen, OHG. zeihhanôn (Ger. zeichnen):—OTeut. *taiknôjan, f. *taikno{supm}, token n.] 1. trans. To be a token or sign of; to signify, represent, denote, mean, betoken.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §13 Þon tacnnað [se steorra] æfen. 971 Blickl. Hom. 19 Smeaᵹean we nu..hwæt þæt tacnode. [c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Nu we wulleð seggen mare wet þis godspel itacnet.] c 1205 Lay. 32115 To wulche þinge hit iteon wolde Þat him wes itacned þere [i.e. in the dream]. Ibid. 32131 Al swa godd him hafde itakned to don. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2957 What þat it tokeneþ telle wol ich sone. c 1425 Craft of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 5 A cifre tokens noȝt. c 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 14 Suche pronosticacions sheweþ and tokneþ to þe pacient þat þe leche is experte in þe knowyng of þe fistule. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 424 Quhat this takynnit I will nocht tell ȝow heir. 1889 C. C. R. Up for the Season, etc. 16 On fair leaves and ladies as yet there no shade is To token their coming decay. |
2. To be a type, emblem, or symbol of; to typify, symbolize.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 35 Þa Easterlican daᵹas tacniaþ þa ecean eadiᵹnesse. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 280 Wæter ᵹetacnað..mennisc inᵹehyd. c 1220 Bestiary 763 in O.E. Misc. 24 Crist is tokned ðurȝ ðis der. a 1300 Cursor M. 6341 (Cott.) Þis wandes takens persons thre. Ibid. 18644 He [Christ] es takend to leon. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 809 And by thys dowe wych thow dost se,..I am tookenyd. 1552 Grindal Fruitful Dial. in Foxe A. & M. (1570) 1558/2 The token of the body of Christ is [not] the thing tokened; wherfore they are not one. 1863 Kinglake Crimea II. xiii. 195 The principle of the ‘moveable column’ would be well enough tokened by that simple skinful of water. |
† 3. To mark with a sign or significant mark.
| c 1300 Cursor M. 21713 (Edin.) Þe signe of taue in alde laiis Bitaknis cros nu in ure daiis. The men that tarwiþ takind ware Oft it helpid fra misfare. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xli. (Agnes) 30 With þe fare blud of his passione [He] taknys þar chekis vpe & done. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 431 b/1 He was marked or tokened on the lyppes of hym with an hote and brennyng yron. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. viii. 23 Quhen thou takynnit hes sa worthely With syng tropheall the feyldis. |
† 4. intr. To make a sign or signs.
Obs. rare.
| 1535 Coverdale Prov. vi. 12 He wyncketh with his eyes, he tokeneth with his fete, he poynteth with his fyngers. |
5. trans. To betroth, promise in marriage.
dial.| 1880 in W. Cornwall Gloss. 1910 E. Phillpotts Thief of Virtue i. ii. 10 ‘How can she throw over the man afore they'm tokened?’.. ‘If they are tokened, does it follow they've let all the world know it?’ |
† 6. token up, to put up in writing, write out.
Obs. rare.
| 1535 Coverdale Dan. v. 23 Therfore is the palme off this honde sent hither..to token vp this wrytinge. ― Ecclus. l. 27, I Iesus the sonne of Sirac..haue tokened vp these informacions and documentes of wyszdome and vnderstandinge in this boke. |
Hence
ˈtokened,
ˈtokening ppl. adjs.| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. x. 9 Eno. How appeares the Fight? Scar. On our side, like the Token'd Pestilence, Where death is sure. 1820 Clare Rural Life (ed. 3) 109 We'll mix our wishes in a tokening tear. |