tomboy
(ˈtɒmbɔɪ)
[f. Tom n.1 + boy n.]
† 1. A rude, boisterous, or forward boy. Obs.
(Generally so taken in quot. a 1553; certainly so in 1599.)
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. ii. iv. (Arb.) 37 Is all your delite and ioy In whiskyng and ramping abroade like a Tom boy? 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. ii, Must young court tits [= young gentlemen courtiers] Play tomboys' tricks with her, and he live? |
† 2. A bold or immodest woman.
Obs.| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 203/2 Sainte Paule meaneth that women must not be impudent, they must not be tomboyes, to be shorte, they must not bee vnchast. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 122 To be partner'd With Tomboyes hyr'd with that selfe exhibition Which your owne Coffers yeeld. 1619 Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta ii. i, Ye Filly, Ye Tit, ye Tomboy! a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tom-boy, a Ramp, or Tomrig. |
3. A girl who behaves like a spirited or boisterous boy; a wild romping girl; a hoyden.
| 1592 Lyly Midas i. ii, If thou shouldest rigge vp and downe in our iackets, thou wouldst be thought a very tom⁓boy. 1622 T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. xii. 169 Of such short-haired Gentlewomen I find not one example either in Scripture or elsewhere. And what shall I say of such poled rigs, ramps and Tomboyes? 1656 Blount Glossogr., Tom⁓boy, a girle or wench that leaps up and down like a boy. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Tom-boy, a ramping, frolicsome, rude girl. 1802 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. VI. 72 The violent exercise of the skipping-rope, which is..only fit for some Miss Tom⁓boy. 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. Introd. Let. 7 He had no taste for giantesses, and a particular aversion for hoydens and tomboys and women who trespassed against the delicacy of their sex. 1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere x, As a rough tomboy of fourteen, she had shown Catherine..a good many uncouth signs of affection. |
4. attrib.| 1657 Howell Londinop. 398 Stool-ball, though that stradling kind of Tomboy sport be not so handsome for Mayds. 1675 H. Woolley Gentlewom. Comp. 52 To laugh, or express any Tom-boy trick is as bad or worse. 1874 Mrs. H. Wood Mast. Greylands iv, He saw a great deal to find fault with in her rude, tomboy ways. 1882 Atlantic Monthly LI. 87 Having..practiced them in a mere romping, ‘tom-boy’ spirit when she was a young girl. |
Hence
tomboyˈade nonce-wd., an escapade in the manner of a tomboy;
tomˈboyful a.,
ˈtomˌboyish a., like or having the character of a tomboy; hence
ˈtomˌboyishness;
ˈtomboyism.
| 1886 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 516 Reminiscences of scrambles and *tomboyades when they were girls together. |
| 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 82 Careless and joyful... Pet in short petticoats—Truly *tomboyful! |
| 1862 C. M. Yonge C'tess Kate iv, A child..certainly *tom-boyish except for a certain timidity. 1887 ‘Edna Lyall’ Knt.-Errant (1889) 227 A rather tomboyish young person of fourteen. |
| 1883 L. Wingfield A. Rowe III. vii. 130 Under the roughness and *tomboyishness was a heart of real gold. |
| 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind ii, What I mean by ‘*tomboyism’ is a wholesome delight in rushing about at full speed, playing at active games, climbing trees, rowing boats, making dirt-pies, and the like. |