tocsin
(ˈtɒksɪn)
Forms: 6 tocksaine, 7 tocquesain, toxin, 8 toczin, 8– tocsin.
[a. F. tocsin, in OF. toquassen (1372 in Godef. Compl.), toquesin, -sain, -saint (16th c.), etc.; ad. Prov. tocasenh, f. toca-r (F. touche-r) to touch, strike + senh ‘signe, marque, appel de la cloche, cloche’:—L. signum sign, in later Latin also a bell; ‘campana, nola, Italis Segno’ (Du Cange).]
1. A signal, esp. an alarm-signal, sounded by ringing a bell or bells: used orig. and esp. in reference to France.
| 1586 Fulke Answ. to P. Frarine 52 The priests then went vp into the steeple, and rang the bells backward, which they call Tocksaine, whereupon the people of the suburbs flocked togither. 1603 Dekker Wonderfull Yeare Wks. (Grosart) I. 110 The Allarum is strucke vp, the Toxin ringes out for life. 1670 Cotton Espernon i. ii. 89 At the same time that the Assault began, the Tocquesain rung throughout all the Churches in the City. 1795 Hel. M. Williams Lett. France II. 13 The signal for ringing that fatal tocsin, which was the knell of liberty. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. v, The tocsin..is pealing madly from all steeples. 1861 Stanley East. Ch. xii. (1869) 409 They rang a tocsin with the great bell of the ancient Novgorod. |
b. fig.
| 1794 J. Stewart (title) The Tocsin of Britannia. 1802 ― (title) The Tocsin of Social Life. 1803 Fessenden Terrible Tractoration iv. ii, Sound Discord's jarring tocsin louder. 1832 A. Clarke in Life xv. (1840) 572 He thought the seizure in my foot would turn to an attack of gout. This was a tocsin to me. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. Introd. 12 The tocsins of immemorial strife were sounding all about. |
2. transf. A bell used to sound an alarm.
| 1842 Longfellow Belfry of Bruges xvii, The wild alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat. 1868 Milman St. Paul's iii. 63 The great bell of St. Paul's was the tocsin which summoned the citizens to arms. 1890 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. VIII. xxix. 60 Tocsins or alarm bells were set up in various parts of the town. |
3. attrib., as tocsin bell, tocsin note, tocsin sound.
| 1822 Byron Juan vi. lxxxiv, When all around rang like a tocsin bell. 1878 H. Phillips tr. Poems fr. Spanish & Germ. 19 An Baeza's tocsin note Bellows forth from brazen throat. 1900 A. Upward Eben. Lobb 178 What meaning has the tocsin sound of liberty for ears like yours? |