Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) a first-rate person.

1911

E. Dyson ‘At the Opera’ in Benno and Some of the Push 88: ‘That’s bon tosh,’ said Cilly, with enthusiasm. ‘Benno, you’re a taw.’.

2. cash in hand; funds.

1922		Joyce Ulysses 280: An old plumber named Geraghty. I’m hanging on to his taw now for the past fortnight and I can’t get a penny out of him.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Lemon Drop Kid’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 372: Figuring to provide himself with a larger taw to bet on the certain horse.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 54: I will have a nice taw for the races at Churchill Downs.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 129: ‘What kind of taw you got?’ ‘About twenty-five hundred.’.