tog n.
1. an outer garment, a coat; thus upper tog.
Coriolanus III:iii: Why in this wolvish toge should I stand here. | ||
Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Toge c. a Coat. | ||
Memoirs (1714) 14: Togge, a Coat. | ||
Regulator 20: Togge, alias Coat. | ||
New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698]. | ||
Account 31 July 🌐 He had a pretty rum outside and inside †† Togee [...] ††A good Coat and Waistcoat. | ||
Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 112: A Coat A Toggy. | ||
Discoveries (1774) 30: The ringing Toggs and Seats. | ||
(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in (1999) xxix: A Toge A Coat. | ||
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: toge a Coat (cant). | |
Oxford Jrnl 11 Jan. 2/5: My name is Charles Turpin; I am come for your three togs (flash for great coats). | ||
letter 28 Dec. in Pierce Egan’s Life in London (10 Apr. 1825) 83/2: [W]e planted (buried) the property, no great way of the spot where you found Monsieur Dodson's tog (coat) . | ||
Vulgarities of Speech Corrected n.p.: Togger A great coat. | ||
Peter Simple (1911) 393: May I be so bold as to ax, Captain O’Brien, whether I must wear one of them long tog, swallow-tailed coats? | ||
Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Tog, a coat. | ||
Man of Pleasure’s Illus. Pocket-book n.p.: Mother Willit, of Gerrard Street, who could turn out forty dress mots; and, to crack her own wids, ‘So help her kidnies, she al’us turned her gals out with a clean a—e and a good tog’. | ||
Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 8/2: They go in strong on the ‘sneak’ when dark, or at the break of the races, when in the confusion [...] a ‘tog’ or ‘spread’ is sure to change owners. | ||
Sl. Dict. | ||
Und. and Prison Sl. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | ||
Gold in the Streets (1966) 204: We go like aristo-something, all posh tog. | ||
Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 86: I lit a shuck back to my regular old pad and jumped into a different tog. | ||
(con. 1930s–50s) Night People 118: Tog. A suit. |
2. (US Und.) among pickpockets, an overcoat used as a shield.
Gloss. (1888) II 888: toge, s. A gown; from the Latin toga. | ||
Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 19 Apr. 12/3: The overcoat which conceals the hand is known to pickpockets as a ‘tog’. | ||
Vocab. Criminal Sl. |
In derivatives
fashionable, smart in appearance.
‘The Chap Who The Ball Cocks Hangs’ in Flash Casket 93: He dresses so toggish and smart, / And in figure all others he bangs. | ||
Reprinted Glossaries 82/2: Toggish, adj. proud of his toggery, i. e. finery : a slang expression. | ||
Day Book (Chicago) 21 July 32/1: I entered an American headgear establishment, wishing [to buy] a new straw hat. The clerk retorted [...] ‘Say, I’ve got the toggiest layout of breakfast food kellies you ever nailed your lamps on. Here’s one that’s a dame-killer. Clinch it between your ears!’. |
In compounds
coat and trousers.
Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 13: Has there any thing equall’d the fal-lals and tricks / That bedizen’d old georgy’s bang-up tog and kicks! | ||
Sinks of London 127/2: Tog and kicks, breeches and coat. |
lacking decent or fashionable clothes.
Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
1. a tailor.
(ref. to 1870) in Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
2. (UK tramp) a market seller of secondhand clothes.
Romany Life 243: Splendid suits for working-class folks who buy them either direct from the old clo’ man or on markets where a man who works under the name of tog-fencer sells them. |
In phrases
dressed up, in uniform.
Mornings in Bow St. 51: He was bundled up [...] in a posse of charleys, all in full tog, enough to smother up a Hercules. | ||
Navy at Home I 63: He was an extremely sleek and comely personage on the whole, when in full tog or grande tenue, as the French say. |
(US Und.) an overcoat; ? a suit.
Autobiog. (1930) 291: Long tog signifies a coat. | ||
King’s Own II 152: When I landed at Porstmouth, I retained a suit of ‘long togs,’ as we call them. | ||
(ref. to 1806) | James Fenimore Cooper 14: The captain, when he went ashore, used to dress in blue long-tog, drab breeches, and top-boots, so that he could pass for a country gentleman.
a cloak.
Accounts 8 Nov. 🌐 He told Dr. Fluellin, he had seen a Tale, (a Sword) a Scout, (a Watch) a Calm and Shade, (a Hat and Wig) a Brace of Wedges, (Silver Buckles) and an outside Toge, (a Cloak). | ||
cited in DU (1961). |
best clothes, smart clothes.
Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 124: Then I’ll put on my simp togs [sharp clothes] for I will have my gage, / to look your town over for some yellow babes. |
(UK Und.) an overcoat.
Vocabulum. |
an under petticoat.
Discoveries (1774) 42: An under Tugg; an under Petticoat. |