▪ I. toy, n.
(tɔɪ)
Forms: ? 4, 6–7 toye, 6– toy; pl. 6–7 toyes, toies, 6– toys.
[Toy n. and vb. (formerly toye) have been in common use since c 1530, when both are given by Palsgr., and used by Skelton and Tindale. But a single instance of toye n., apparently the same word, occurs in Robert of Brunne. It is difficult to conceive how such a word in use c 1300 should thus disappear for two centuries, and then should all at once burst into view with a wide sense-development. The etymology is equally problematic, and, in spite of current conjectures, must still be considered unascertained: see Note below.]
I. Abstract senses, meaning action, act, notion, feeling.
† 1. Amorous sport, dallying, toying; with pl., an act or piece of amorous sport, a light caress.
| [1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 7891 Whedyr hyt be yn a womman handlyng, Or yn any oþer lusty þyng;..Amendeþ ȝow, pur charyte, And makeþ nat a-mys þe toye [so all MSS.], Þat þe fende of ȝou haue Ioye.] 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Amo: Amatoriæ leuitates, Louers toyes. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 37 A foe of folly and immodest toy. 1594 ― Epithal. 365 For greedy pleasure, carelesse of your toyes, Thinks more upon her paradise of joyes, Then what ye do. 1594 Willobie Avisa xlvii. iii, These toyes in tyme will make her yielde. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1034 So said he, and forbore not glance or toy, Of amorous intent, well understood Of Eve. 1668 G. Etherege She Would if She Could ii. ii, Her toy was such, that every touch Would make a lover madder. 1707 Ward Hud. Rediv. ii. ii. 8 (Farmer) Kisses, Love-Toys, and am'rous Prattle. |
† 2. A sportive or frisky movement; a piece of fun, amusement, or entertainment; a fantastic act or practice; an antic, a trick.
Obs.| a 1500 H. Medwall Nature i. 786 (Brandl), Though I say yt a praty boy..He maketh me laugh wyth many a toy, The vrchyn ys so mad. Ibid. 1001 He that wold lordshyp enioy And playe euer styll the old boy Me semeth he doth but make a toy. 1530 Tindale Answ. More Wks. (1572) 249/1 We heare but voyces with out signification,..& wonder at disguisings & toyes wherof we know no meanyng. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 291 Neither was there ever any bearwards Jackanapes that made more pastime and toys to the people, than this. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 9 Somtyme croweth he like a cocke, somtyme barketh he like a dogge, and many such foolish toyes vseth he. c 1575 Perfect Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes (1886) 15 Lest she get a toye of flinginge her head. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 1948 Are apish tricks and toies, which vse to bring Men in dirision, sportes to breed delight? 1777 Horæ Subsec. 437 (E.D.D.) He hath taken a toy to scratch his head, when he is speaking to a gentleman. |
3. a. A fantastic or trifling speech or piece of writing; a frivolous or mocking speech; a foolish or idle tale; a funny story or remark, a jest, joke, pun; a light or facetious composition.
arch.| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. i. Diogenes §79 Nothyng but a toye, in daliyng with the affinitee and similitude of woordes. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) A iv, Suche as seeke the greatest praise for writyng of Bookes, should doe beste..to write foolishe toyes, for then the moste parte would best esteme them. 1577 Breton Flourish on Fancie (Grosart) 11/2 Toyes of straung deuise, With stories of olde Robin Hood. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 3, I neuer may beleeue These anticke fables, nor these Fairy toyes. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iii. xx. 215 They gaue credit to all these foolish toies. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 126 Fye George, she crys, these Words are but Toys. |
| arch. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xvi, Think of what that arch⁓knave Shakspeare says—a plague on him, his toys come into my head when I should think of other matters. 1905 R. Garnett Shakespeare 104 She hath heard A little toy of thine, a comedy ('Tis called, I think, The Taming of a Shrew). |
b. † (
a) A light, frivolous, or lively tune.
Obs. (
b) A particular turn or phrase of melody in a bird's song: see
quot. 1851.
| 1591 Greene Art Conny Catch. iii. (1592) 19 In the time of ceissing betweene the seuerall toyes and fancies hee plaied. 1641 Sanderson Serm., Ad Aulam xiii. (1660) II. 267 One would have a grave Pavane, another a nimbler Galliard, a third some striking toy or Jigg. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 14 There are four-and-twenty changes in a linnet's song... It sings ‘toys’, as we call them. |
† 4. a. A foolish or idle fancy; a fantastic notion, odd conceit; a whim, crotchet, caprice.
Obs.| c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 330 in Babees Bk. (1868) 80 Cast not thyne eyes to ne yet fro, as thou werte full of toyes. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. x. 225 This people [Tartarres] hath many supersticious toyes. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs vii. (Arb.) 59 But yf a toye com in your Brayne, your mynde is altered quyght. 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 161 Euen as the toy takes me in the head. 1642 Rogers Naaman 98 So deadly doth this conceit and toy of his owne braine worke with him. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 101 Yet when the Toy took them, they'd make now and then a Sally. 1699 ― Fables ii. vii. (1715) II. 5 A New Marry'd Couple had a Toy took them in their Heads, so soon as ever the Office was over, to Shrift one another before they came together. |
† b. spec. A foolish or unreasoning dislike or aversion:
esp. in
phr. to take (a) toy (in quot. 1612 = to take fright, start, shy) at something.
Obs.| a 1593 Marlowe Hero & Leander v. Wks. (Rtldg.) 304/2 [To hear this] Made the well-spoken nymph take such a toy That down she sunk. 1612 Two Noble K. v. iv. 79 The hot horse, hot as fire, Took Toy at this. 1647 Sanderson Serm., Ad Aulam xiv. (1660) II. 277 Common friends many times..take toy at a trifle,..and pick quarrels to desert us. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 308 Thence they take a Toy at Metaphysics, and pretend it insuperably hard and mysterious. |
II. Concrete senses.
(Sense 5 is also often
abstract, connecting I and II; the connexion of 10 with the other senses is doubtful.)
5. gen. A thing of little or no value or importance, a trifle; a foolish or senseless affair, a piece of nonsense;
pl. trumpery, rubbish. (In
mod. use regarded as
fig. from next sense.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Toy a tryfell, truffe, friuolle. 1538 Elyot, Abydena, trifles, thinges of smalle estimation, wanton toyes, thynges vnseemely for menne to vse. 1587 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 166 To stand vpon such toies would spend much time. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 91 From this instant, There's nothing serious in Mortalitie: All is but Toyes. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows i. §29. 44 Of Popish toyes to pacifie God. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq., Apol. 554 If they leave not off their animosities and asperities of mind about toys and trifles. 1719 Watts Hymn, ‘Come, holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove’ ii, Look, how we grovel here below, Find of these earthly Toys. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair ix, But a title and a coach and four are toys more precious than happiness in Vanity Fair. |
6. A material object for children or others to play with (often an imitation of some familiar object); a plaything; also, something contrived for amusement rather than for practical use (
esp. in phrase
a mere toy). In
quot. a 1586
playing toy. Now the leading sense, to which the others are referred.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iv. Wks. 1725 II. 771 There was never poor scholar, that having instead of his book some playing toy about him, did more suddenly cast it from him. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 152 The rattles and toyes which children use to play with. a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 111 We cry for every toy, even that which may most hurt us. 1672 R. Wild Poet. Licent. 29 We all know Popes-head-Alley trades in Toyes, Our Merchants come not thither, but our Boys. 1781 Cowper Hope 128 Men deal with life as children with their play, Who first misuse, then cast their toys away. 1881 Stevenson Virg. Puerisque, Child's Play (1905) 157 Lead soldiers, dolls, all toys, in short, are in the same category. 1893 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 14 The very low-priced sets [of photographic apparatus]..are generally mere toys. |
| fig. 1893 Liddon, etc. Life Pusey I. xvi. 363 He handles it with the delight that a new mental toy inspires in most men at a certain time of life. |
7. a. A small article of little intrinsic value, but prized as an ornament or curiosity; ‘a petty commodity’ (J.), a knick-knack, trinket, gewgaw; hence (often in allusion to 6) applied to anything small, flimsy, or inferior of its kind (now chiefly
attrib.: see 12 b).
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 67 Heere is the cap... Why 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell, A knacke, a toy, a tricke, a babies cap. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia i. 3 We presented him with diuers toyes, which he kindly accepted. c 1630 Hales Serm. John xviii. 36 Rem. (1673) 154 So like one another, that one of them must wear a toy in his cap, that so the spectators may distinguish them. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 139 A weak town, haveing noe outward works, but a toy of a pallisade before a litle part of the wall. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. i, Ladies, hung about with toys and trinkets. 1768 Tom Thumb's Folio i. 4 His Father was greatly disconcerted at having such a little tiney Toy of a Child. 1888 Black Houseboat xi, Perched on the top of a hill was a conspicuous toy of a church. |
b. Applied technically to small steel articles, as hammers, pincers, buckles, button-hooks, nails, etc. More fully ‘steel toys’ (?
i.e. steel petty things).
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 319 Heavy Steel Toys. By this not very appropriate description the Birmingham manufacturers refer to a class of articles... To enumerate all the ‘toys’ of this class would be to transcribe a large list of miscellaneous cheap and useful wares, from a joiner's hammer to a shoemaker's tack. The pincers of the last-named workman, and the edged nippers..in use for breaking up loaf-sugar, are both of them well-known specimens. |
c. Thieves' slang. A watch;
toy and tackle, a watch and chain.
Cf. toy-getter (see 12 d).
| 1826 Sessions Papers 21 Sept. 546/2 James Boyce..said ‘The b—g—r has got no toy’; I had no watch. 1877 Horsley Jottings fr. Jail i. (1887) 17 He was very tricky at getting a poge or a toy, but he would not touch toys because we was afraid of being turned over. |
d. U.S. slang. A small tin or jar containing opium; the quantity of opium held in such a container.
| 1934 Detective Fiction Weekly 21 Apr. 114/1 Toy, small receptacle for opium. 1951 Suggestions for Teaching Nature & Effects of Narcotics (U.S. Board of Education) 9 It [sc. opium] is usually sold in round tin salve containers, about the size of a five-cent piece, and is known as a ‘toy’. 1955 U.S. Senate Hearings (1956) VIII. 4161 The containers thereof are known as ‘toys’ (small jars or like containers). 1961 Dissent VIII. 349 Opium itself is often available. However, it is expensive ($15–20 for a toy, a ball about the size of a large pea). |
8. fig. Applied to a person:
a. (from 5) slightingly or contemptuously; in
quot. 1822 affectionately
= pet, darling (
cf. 7);
b. (from 6) as being used as a plaything or for sport.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 46 Elues, list your names: Silence, you aiery toyes. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass iv. vii, I ha' sworne to ha' him by the eares: I feare The toy, wi' not do me right. 1681 Dryden Span. Friar iv. ii, O, Vertue! Vertue!..That men should leave thee for that Toy, a Woman? 1821 Byron Mar. Fal. i. ii, Thou idle, gilded, and degraded toy. 1822 T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 171 Why, Xanthias, my toy, Why, what ails the poor boy! 1883 Stepniak in Contemp. Rev. Sept. 317 A Russian..being a mere toy in the hands of the commonest policeman. 1888 Stevenson Black Arrow 46 This toy..that's not fit for wounds or warfare. |
9. Applied to a diminutive breed or variety of animals.
a. Short for
toy dog: see 12 c.
| 1876 All Year Round 15 Jan. 377/1 ‘Toys’ repose on velvet cushions. 1877 Field 24 Feb. 214/2 In toys no great change has taken place, except that..pugs, Italian greyhounds, and toy terriers are on the decline. 1899 Pall Mall G. 3 Oct. 9/1 Ladies' toys were in strong force... Sporting dogs were not numerous. 1903 Daily Chron. 25 May 5/2 The ‘chiens de luxe’, or Toys, are in a roomy and well-warmed ‘pavillon’ by themselves. |
b. Any dwarf variety of tame pigeon.
| 1855 [see hyacinth 3 b]. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v., The toys resemble the tumblers in general build and are among pigeons what bantams are among fowl. |
10. Sc. A close cap or head-dress, of linen or wool, with flaps coming down to the shoulders, formerly worn by women of the lower classes in Scotland. ?
Obs. Also
toy-mutch (12 d). [In this sense
perh. = Du. tooi attire, dress: see Note below.]
(The
English quots. 1611, 1612, are placed here as
perh. suggesting the origin; but they may belong to 7.)
| [1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 326 Any Silke, any Thred, any Toyes for your head? 1612 Two Noble K. i. iii, On my head no toy But was her pattern.] 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1762) 2 Their toys and mutches were sae clean, They glanced in our ladses' een. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scot. IX. 325 The tenants wives wore toys of linen of the coarsest kind, upon their heads, when they went to church, fairs or market. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxix, The face of Alison..now presented itself, enveloped in a ‘toy’. 1824 ― Redgauntlet Let. iv, An elderly woman, in a grey stuff gown, with a check apron and ‘toy’. 1900 H. G. Graham Soc. Life Scot. in 18th C. v. vi. (1901) 181 Farmers' wives and daughters with ‘toys’ or head-covering of coarse linen. |
11. pl. At Winchester College, a bureau or desk; hence, a cubicle used as a study.
| 1816 Hist. Colleges Winchester, Eton & Westminster 43 Besides his scob, every boy has, in the chamber to which he belongs, another receptacle for his books, with convenience for writing, &c. denominated, in the language of the place, Toys. 1901 Public School Mag. VII. 158/1 A series of small compartments, semi-secluded, but answering in their way to private studies. Each of these little dens is known as ‘Toys’. 1974 K. Clark Another Part of Wood ii. 74 We all sat in the same large enclosure, round the walls of which were small partitions (known as toyes) like uncomfortable polling booths, with just enough room for two shelves, one to serve as a seat and the other as a desk. |
III. 12. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. That is a toy (in sense 6): applied to small models or imitations of ordinary objects used as playthings, as
toy boat,
toy cannon,
toy dog,
toy engine,
toy horse,
toy house,
toy man,
toy pistol,
toy train,
toy trumpet,
toy woman, etc.
| a 1860 Alb. Smith Lond. Med. Stud. (1861) 13 A stethescope—a curious instrument, something like a sixpenny toy-trumpet with its top knocked off. 1880 Mrs. F. D. Bridges Jrnl. Lady's Trav. round World xviii. (1883) 298 One never quite gets over the impression of being amongst dolls and living in a toy-house..in Japan. 1883 Toy pistol [see amorce]. 1888 Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. iii. (1900) 24 The most simple form of toy-engine is that illustrated below. 1889 Toy pistol [see amorce]. 1897 Edin. Rev. Oct. 480 The babies had toy-animals on wheels. 1978 N. Freeling Night Lords ii. 11 The bandits..were pathetic imbeciles armed with toy pistols. |
b. transf. and
fig. Applied to things of diminutive size, flimsy construction, or petty character, as if intended for sport or diversion rather than serious use.
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. xli, You go not to your gew-gaw toy-house yonder; you will sleep to-night in better security. 1855 H. Martineau Autobiog. I. 437 My surprise at the smallness and toy-character of Abbotsford was extreme. 1895 M. E. Braddon in Westm. Gaz. 6 Nov. 1/3 A very popular writer may launch three of these toy-pinnaces in a year. 1897 Gladstone E. Crisis 5 The Concert of Europe included toy-demonstrations, which might be made under the condition that they should not pass into reality. 1909 Daily Chron. 19 Feb. 3/2 Ruritana was something more than the first toy-kingdom of our modern stage. |
c. Applied to an animal,
esp. a dog of a diminutive breed or variety, kept as a pet,
e.g. a
toy spaniel or
toy terrier.
| 1806 M. Lewis Jrnl. 1 July in Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1905) V. 178 [Barking squirrels] will generally set and bark at you.., their note being much that of the little toy dogs. 1863 Sat. Rev. 28 Mar. 408/1 These very large dogs are not much more useful than the very small ones which are called, with perfect aptness, toy dogs. 1872 B. Clayton Dogs 20 A Toy Terrier was exhibited which weighed only six ounces. 1889 G. Stables Dog Owners' Kennel Comp. vi. §10. 66 There are several other kinds of Toy Terriers..but I need only mention..the Toy Black and Tan and the Toy Blue or Slate colour. |
d. Comb.:
attrib. (of or for toys), as
toy-box,
toy-cupboard,
toy-fair,
toy-land,
toy-manufacture,
toy-trade; objective and
obj. gen., as
toy-maker,
toy-making,
toy-turner; instrumental, similative, etc., as
toy-bewitched,
toy-like,
toy-sized adjs.; also
toy-block, one of a set of wooden or papier-mâché blocks, usually with letters or designs, for children to play with;
toy book U.S., a children's book;
toy-boy slang, a good-looking youth who is ‘kept’ by an older woman (or
occas. man) as a lover; the younger partner of an older woman;
toy-getter (
Thieves' slang), a watch-stealer; so
toy-getting,
† toy-headed a., having ‘toys’ or odd fancies in the head, crotchety;
toy-line = toy-railway;
toy-mutch Sc. = sense 10;
† toy-pate, a head full of ‘toys’, crotchets, or frivolities (
cf. toy-headed);
toy-railway, (
a) a model of a railway, with its engine, train, etc.; (
b)
pop., a small narrow-gauge railway, often
orig. constructed for the use of slate-works or the like, but
subseq. carrying tourists or other passengers; also
toy-line;
toy-service, a church-service at which toys are brought as an offering for sick or poor children;
toy soldier, a small model of a soldier; also
fig.;
toy theatre, a miniature theatre in which the characters are represented by printed pictures mounted on card or wood; also
fig.;
toy time, at Winchester College, time allocated for work in toys (see sense 11 above);
toy-woman, a woman who keeps a toy-shop. See also
toyman, -shop, -town, -wort.
| 1794 Coleridge Relig. Musings vii, We become An anarchy of Spirits. *Toy-bewitched. |
| 1891 Cent. Dict., *Toy-block, one of a set of small blocks,..forming a play⁓thing for children. |
| 1801 M. L. Weems Let. 10 Mar. in E. Skeel M. L. Weems (1929) II. 177, I sell the Primers & *toy books wholesale at great discount. 1865 (title) Aunt Louisa's Toy Books. |
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. vi, He descries lying far below, embosomed among its groves and green natural bulwarks, and all diminished to a *toybox, the fair Town. |
| 1981 Event 9 Oct. 29/4 *Toy-boy, the youthful lover of an ageing woman. 1983 Financial Times 31 Mar. 19/4 At the start he is observed as Caesar's toy boy, stripped for the religious ceremony. 1987 News of the World 15 Nov. 32/2 At 48 she is like a teenage girl again—raving it up with four different lovers including a toyboy of 27! |
| 1900 Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 12/1 The season for the ransacking of *toy-cupboards. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Oct. 1/2 The order..that there shall be no *toy-fairs in London this Christmas⁓tide deprives the City of..one of its sights. |
| 1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 The following people used to go in there—*toy-getters (watch-stealers), mags⁓men [etc.]. 1896 A. Morrison Child of the Jago 102 Dicky knew the small man for a good toy-getter. |
| 1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago xxiv. 239 The gains of the *toy-getting trade were poor, except to the fence. |
| 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 1 It sticks upon the stomach of some *toy-headed professors. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 5 Nov. 7/5 No one realises unless he penetrates into *Toyland how much whimsical humour, how much scientific skill and craftsman's ingenuity are devoted to the invention of the playthings for the festive season. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. i, The gay glancing of the equipage, its diminished and *toy-like appearance at a distance. 1883 Manch. Exam. 26 Nov. 5/3 The Swiss lake steamers are..too toy-like to ensure their passengers against reasonably probable risks. |
| 1878 Jenkinson Guide N. Wales 271 Leaving the Cambrian train at Mynffordd Junction, the traveller walks up a path to the *toy line, and enters one of the little carriages. |
| 1859 Habits of Gd. Society v. (new ed.) 194 Worth all the amusements which a *toy-maker could dream of. |
| 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. ix. iii. (1872) III. 87 *Toy-manufactures of those simple people. |
| 1742 Forbes Dominie Depos'd ii. i, The *toy-mutch maun then gae on, Nae mair bare-hair'd. |
| 1693 Penn Maxims lx. Wks. 1726 I. 847 He never deals but in substantial Ware, and leaves the rest for the *Toy-Pates (or Shops) of the World. |
| 1892 Baddeley Guide N. Wales (ed. 4) 165 heading, Portmadoc to Ffestiniog by the ‘*Toy’ Railway. Ibid., No orthodox tourist visits Wales without taking a turn..on the ‘Toy’ railway. 190. Guide to Lynton, Lynmouth, etc. Introd. 19 heading, Barnstaple to Lynton by the Toy Railway. |
| 1889 Standard 1 Feb., ‘*Toy Services’ which are becoming very popular in some of our churches. |
| 1895 C. Holland Jap. Wife (ed. 11) 27 *Toy-sized cups of tea. |
| 1850 Dickens in Househ. Words Extra Christmas No. 291/2 The lazy-tongs that used to bear the *toy soldiers. 1922 M. Arlen Piracy iii. xi. 232 Poor Hugo..has gone clucking back for to be a toy soldier at Aldershot. 1980 Listener 19 June 796/1 A shopful of toy soldiers cast from the same lead mould. |
| 1850 Dickens in Househ. Words Extra Christmas No. 292/1 Out of this delight springs the *toy theatre,..with its familiar proscenium, and..boxes. 1931 A. C. Ward Found. Eng. Prose iii. 98 Stevenson loved to play with toy-theatres, and all his novels, with one exception, are reflected through the toy⁓theatre temperament: life is not in them. 1978 A. & P. Miall Victorian Christmas Bk. 30 The toy theatre..was similar to the kind..still being made by Pollocks of London. The printed figures and scenery were cut out and applied to wooden backings. |
| 1881 W. H. David in C. E. Pascoe Everyday Life in our Public Schools 84 The clock marking 7, each junior retires to his ‘toys’ or bureau, for an hour and a half—during what is known as ‘*toy-time’, when the work of the next morning and the week's composition have to be prepared. 1901 Public School Mag. VII. 158/1 Thus we find that from seven o'clock to half-past eight is ‘toy-time’. |
| 1757 W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. 41 Our Sons of War are to be served after our Sons of *Toy-Trade. |
| 1893 A. N. Palmer Hist. Wrexham IV. 11, I find mentioned..one *toy-turner. |
| 1827 Scott Diary 2 Oct., in Lockhart, An old lady, who proved a *toy woman in Edinburgh. |
[
Note. Eduard Müller suggested the identity of
toy with
Du. tooi, late
MDu. tôi, 16th c., ‘attire, ornament, finery, dress’, which suits the form, but hardly the sense (
exc. ? in 10 or 7). Others have thought of
Du. tuig ‘harness, horse-trappings’, in
pl. ‘sails, rigging, implements, tools; stuff, lumber, refuse, trash’; in Kilian 1599
tuygh,
dial. tuych,
tugh, ‘arms, implements, armaments, impedimenta, ornaments’,
= Ger. zeug ‘apparatus, tools, gear, furniture, stuff, trash, etc.’,
LG. tüg,
tüüg,
MLG. tûch,
tûg. But, if the sense-development shown above is historically correct, it is difficult to see in either of these suggestions, the origin of the English word. It is indeed true that
Du. speeltuig,
Ger. spielzeug, and
Da. legetoi, mean ‘play-tool or implement, plaything, toy’, and that Sidney in 1586 used ‘playing toy’, which might conceivably be a rendering of one of these compounds; but this would still leave the earlier English history unexplained.]
Add:
[III.] [12.] [d.] toy library, a collection of toys which may be borrowed by or for children.
| 1969 Gravesend Reporter 9 May 3/1 The Thames-side *Toy Library, the second of its kind in the country, opened on Saturday. 1990 J. Solomon Green Parenting iv. 70 Toy libraries..are a useful way of cutting down on toy consumption. |
▸
colloq. (chiefly
Brit. and
Austral.).
to throw (also chuck) one's toys out of the pram (also cot) and variants: to behave childishly and petulantly; to throw a tantrum; to sulk.
| 1989 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 26 Aug. (Great Weekend section) 6/5 The woman was too much. I wanted to throw my toys out of the cot. 2000 Racing Post (Nexis) 12 July 8 The Channel 4 board aren't chucking toys out of the pram, they are genuinely exasperated. 2003 Heat 4 Jan. 113/1 You could help your romantic cause by not throwing your toys out of the pram every time things don't go your way. |
▪ II. toy, v. [Goes with toy n., q.v.] 1. intr. To act idly or without seriousness; to trifle, ‘play’, deal carelessly (
with a person or thing); also
† to make sport, mock (
obs.).
| a 1529 Skelton Bowge of Courte 290 It was no tyme with him to jape nor toye. 1530 Palsgr. 758/2, I toye, or tryfell with one, I deale nat substancyally with hym, je me truffe. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. xxxv. 16 Yea abject slaves at me did toy with mocks and cheekes ful stout. 1563 Homilies ii. Inform. H. Script. i. (1859) 373 It is a shame that christian men should be so light headed, to toy as ruffians do with such manner of speeches. 1576 Dering Expos. Heb. v. 4–6. Cc iij, They must haue oyle, candels..wine and water,..trifled and toyed with all. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 19, I fear I do toy in recording these vain Objections. 1868 Dixon Spir. Wives I. vii. 75 He toyed with astrology, and had fitful dreams of enjoying the elixir of life. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lxxxi. 296 [Class issues] are usually toyed with by both parties alike. |
b. So
to toy it.
| 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 379 Thus Dr. H. toyes it with his Readers. Ibid. 574 Let them not toy it now. |
2. To sport amorously; to dally, flirt. Usually
const. with. (
Cf. toy n. 1.)
| 15.. Song Bachelor's Life 7 (Ritson) If he [the married man] be merie and toy with any, His wife will frowne, and words geve manye. 1566 in Daily News 10 Sept. (1897) 6/7 That none toy with the maids, on paine of 4d. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 106 And for my sake [he] hath learnd to sport, and daunce, To toy, to wanton, dallie, smile, and iest. c 1613 Middleton No Wit like Woman's v. i, Not toy, nor bill, and imitate house-pigeons. 1727 Gay Begg. Op. i. viii, O Polly you might have toy'd and kist. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 73 Whilst he and Psyche toy'd together. |
| fig. 1793 Wordsw. Descr. Sketches 52 To where the Alps, ascending white in air, Toy with the Sun, and glitter from afar. 1842 H. Rogers Ess. I. i. 4 He had in early life toyed a little with the muses. |
3. To play, sport, amuse oneself; to move sportively, play or frisk about.
| 1530 Palsgr. 758/2, I toye, I playe with one, je me joue. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 35 But other some could not abide to toy; All pleasaunce was to them griefe and annoy. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. §44. 674 The senseless atoms, playing and toying up and down without any care or thought. 1827 Pollok Course T. v. 1007 The hare, unscared Sported and toyed familiar with his dog. 1836 O. W. Holmes Poetry ii. 18 Pale dreamers, whose fantastic lay Toys with smooth trifles like a child at play. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. iv. 63, I have toyed too long..down the stream of life. |
b. toy with: to play with (a material object), to handle or finger idly; hence, to work idly or carelessly with or at.
| 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall xxvi. (1845) 121 The gallant general took his station.. at her side, and toyed with her elegantly ornamented work-bag. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxiv, The fire was seen sporting and toying with the door. 1879 E. Garrett House by Works I. 115 Mrs. Pendlebury looked down, and toyed with her rings. |
4. trans. (with
adv.) To spend or waste in toying; to bring by toying (into or out of some condition).
| 1575 Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 474, I toy out my time, partly with copying books. 1685 J. Scott Chr. Life ii. 134 So fools and fleers on, till he hath toyed and laughed himself out of all sense of Religion. 1749 Johnson Irene i. i, He toys his hours away. |