Tommy

Tom +‎ -y

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑmi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒmi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒmi

Tommy

1. A diminutive of the male given name Thomas.
2. (uncommon relative to the male given name) A diminutive of the female given name Thomasina.

Tommy (plural Tommies)

1. (colloquial) Ellipsis of Tommy Atkins; a typical private in the British army; a British soldier.
   • 1892, Rudyard Kipling, Tommy:

     Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
     But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll

   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter XV, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), →OCLC:

     And every night now he played pontoon, that game of the Tommies, with Mrs Bolton, gambling with sixpences.

   • 1949, Stephen Peter Llewellyn, Journey Towards Christmas, page 142:

     Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'

   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 129:

     He liked the Germans better than he did the French; but for all that, if he went down the back streets of a night, it was with three or four British Tommies, in case the Jerries weren't as friendly as they made out.

2. (by extension) Any common soldier; a member of the rank and file.
   • 2017, Janet Tolerton, Make Her Praises Heard Afar: New Zealand Women Overseas in World War One, →ISBN, page 38:

     May was in New Zealand when war broke out, and immediately left for France, where she worked in a military hospital in a converted high school in Marseilles. Writing home, she said that the French officers were said to be 'fussy' so she was glad to be nursing the Tommies (meaning French rank and file): 'they are brave and good, and patient, and such grateful patients. They are helpful to each other, and take such an interest in their fellow sufferers.'

3. (rare, now historical) A lesbian.
   • 1777, [Anon.], “Number XVII. A faſhionable, diſgraceful Paſſion expoſed.”, in The Laughing Philosopher, Dublin: Printed for James Williams, →OCLC, page 91:

     Here, here, here again! Coquettes, flirts, harlots, adultereſſes, tulips, pinks, roſes, lilies, violets, wormwood, fennel, and hemlock! Unnatural, unnatural, unnatural! Tommies, Tommies, Tommies! Women kiſſing women; doating, languiſhing, dying, pining, crying, caterwauling, for each other! Ha, ha, ha! O the madneſs of this age!

• (British soldier): Tommy Atkins

From English Tommy.

Tommy

1. a male given name

From English Tommy as in Tommy Atkins.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔmi/

• Audio

  (file)

Tommy m (strong, genitive Tommys, plural Tommys or Tommies)

1. (historical, otherwise dated) a Briton, particularly but not exclusively a soldier

• The plural spelling Tommies is proscribed by contemporary spelling reform rules, but was still standard at the time of WWI and WWII.

From English Tommy as in Tommy Atkins.

Tommy m (invariable)

1. (dated, informal, uncommon) Tommy, redcoat
   • 1945, Bruno Caloprisco, edited by Alessandro Caloprisco, Per qualche foglia di cavolo‎, Youcanprint, published 2016, →ISBN, page 120:

     Sono fuggiasco, perché attendo di essere liberato al più presto dai Tommy.

     I’m a fugitive, because I’m waiting to be liberated as soon as possible by the Tommies.

From English Tommy. First recorded as a given name in Norway around 1870.

Tommy

1. a male given name

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 9 285 males with the given name Tommy living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1970s. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

From English Tommy. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1886.

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Tommy c (genitive Tommys)

1. a male given name
   • 1945, Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Långstrump, Rabén&Sjögren, published 1997, →ISBN, page 8:

     Pojken hette Tommy och flickan Annika. Det var två mycket snälla och väluppfostrade och lydiga barn.

     The boy was named Tommy and the girl Annika. They were two very nice and well-raised and obedient children.

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 42 964 males with the given name Tommy living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1950s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.