tom and jerry, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tom and jerry n.¹

[Tom and Jerry, two fictional men-about-town created by Pierce Egan in Life in London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom (1821), who lent their name to a low inn (note synon. jerry shop n., with no bearing on the book and found a year earlier), and to a drink (which is still being drunk in Damon Runyon’s short stories more than a century later); to Warner Bros. cartoon cat and mouse, and to the protagonists of the hit BBC TV sit-com The Good Life (1975–8)]

1. (US) a rowdy celebrant.

1824		National Advocate (N.Y.) 22 May 2/2: The next steam boats will bring us the bang ups from Virginia and Maryland. The Tom and Jerry’s are all in training – [...] cotton planters from the south, and cotton spinners from Paterson and old Duchess.
1825		N.-Y. National Advocate 4 Jan. 2/2: New Year Frolics. – Sundry Tom & Jerries have been arraigned for milling matches, but on account of the New Year frolics, they were discharged.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 107: Deaf Burke was entertaining a party of Tom and Jerrys on the top of a coach and the gay dogs included several young swells who looked like cavalry officers in mufti.

2. a highly spiced punch; also attrib.

1840		T. Haliburton Letter-bag of the Great Western (1873) 205: No sign board, no mile stones — no Tom and Jerry, no gin and bitters.
1849		Sam Sly 27 Jan. 2/2: He advises Mrs. S—y [...] to stay at home and look after her children, instead of going to ‘Punch’s’ Tom and Jerry shop.
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 59: He entered a doggery, and with all the nonchalance of a veteran drinker, asked for a Tom-and-Jerry.
1865		G.A. Sala My Diary in America II 313: Tom and Jerry, private smiles, corpse revivers [...] with other professed ‘American drinks.’.
1876		J. Miller First Fam’lies in the Sierras 62: The cinnamon-headed dealer of drinks put cayenne pepper in a gin cocktail and Schiedam schnapps in a Tom and Jerry.
1885		C.A. Siringo Texas Cow Boy (1950) 164: He was three sheets in the wind, but swore he hadn’t drank anything but ‘Tom and Jerry.’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Apr. 9/2: He was Brisket, the head-waiter. All middle-aged men – men who remember the ‘Tom and Jerry’ and ‘coal-hole’ periods should go to the Opera House if only to see him – to see him ‘chivvy’ the other flunkeys and bite the half-sov. Tubbs gives him.
1890		Sporting Times 15 Feb. 5/5: [He] then accused me of drinking Bovril, whereas I was glued to a most excellent Tom and Jerry.
1902		C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 177: I never saw so many hot Scotches and Tom and Jerries.
1914		H. Hershfield Abie the Agent 3 Mar. [synd strip] Let’s drop in a cafe to warm us up. I’ll have a nice ‘Jerry and Tom’.
1927		(con. 1900s) H. Asbury Gangs of N.Y. 337: Great bowls of Tom and Jerry sat on the bar ready for serving.
1931		Ade Old-Time Saloon 115: Anyone who drank eight mugs of Tom and Jerry could arise next morning and see his breath.
1944		C.B. Davis Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 115: It come dark with folks singing Christmas carols [...] and he was feeling good from Tom and Jerries.
1947		R. Goffin Horn of Plenty 85: After the Old Tom-and-Jerry, the two had a Bourbon each.

3. an overcoat, presumably reminiscent of those ‘worn’ by Egan's characters.

1843		Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 18 Nov. n.p.: He wears a tom jerry [sic], with a collar faced with gray squirrel skins.
1891		Sporting Times 7 Mar. 1/2: Gubbins has worn his ‘Tom and Jerry’ for the best part of a year, and it is getting decidedly shabby, especially about the collar.

4. a hard round hat; also attrib.

1857		Trollope Three Clerks (1869) 250: It was a Tom and Jerry hat turned up at the sides, with a short but knowing feather.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Feb. 12/4: Except to a Cherry Ripe face, these hats are cruel without a veil, and a veil and a Tom-and-Jerry tile are not in keeping somehow.

In derivatives

tom-and-jerryism (n.)

rowdiness.

1826		N.-Y. American 25 Mar. 2/3: [headline] tom and jerryism. milling the charlies.
1837		London Dispatch 10 Oct. 1/3: Tom and Jerryism in Switzerland [...] Some scandalous scenes have taken place at Interlaken [...] occasioned by the drunken frolics of a half a dozen English.
1843		West Kent Guardian 25 Nov. 6/1: Tom and Jerryism — Thomas casey [...] was charged by the police with stealing a door knocker about one o’clock in the morning .
1851		N. Devon Jrnl 30 Jan. 7/2: As for the defendant’s exhibition in the matter, one of the many illustrations of Tom and Jerryism, or of ‘the fast man’ [...] and the faster such characters go to the House of Correction, the better.
1852		G.C. Mundy Our Antipodes I 56: If they could have a taste of one of the ‘fast’ regiments of former days – just to put them through a course of Tom-and-Jerryism.
1860		N. Devon Jrnl 26 Jan. 4/4: Tom and Jerryism Revived — [...] a party of rowdies ycleped ‘gentlemen’ amused themsleves by [etc.].
1895		Liverpool Mercury 8 Feb. 5/9: A revival of ‘Tom and Jerryism’ must be held at arm’s length.

In compounds

tom and jerry days (n.)

the Regency, the reign of George IV.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

tom and jerry gang (n.)

a gang of rowdy men, devoted to womanizing, drinking, gaming and other pleasures.

1826

National Advocate (N.Y.) 1 Feb. 2/3: ‘I’m debelish glad to see you,’ said the sooty Roman, and so the Tom and Jerry gang made the bottles bleed until the hackmen cracked their whips for home.

tom-and-jerry (shop) (n.)

a cheap tavern.

1824		Westmorland Gaz. 17 July 3/2: Mr Jackson [...] the keeper of a Tom and Jerry shop [...] was brought before the Magistrates [...] for selling ale and permitting it to be drunk upon the premises; he only having a retail brewing license.
1833		Cruikshank & Wight Sun. in London 60: In the Tom and Jerry shop he may recreate himself all night long with pipes, tobacco, heavy wet, and blue ruin galore.
1840		Charter (London) 5 Jan. 2/2: Mr Capion [...] keeps a ‘Tom and Jerry’ shop [...] near the barracks.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 214: We turned into a Tom-and-Jerry shop to have some beer.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 259: TOM AND JERRY, a low drinking shop.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		Manchester Courier 1 July 10/4: Tom and Jerry shops are more common in the South than in the North of England, where whisky is the principal beverage.
1886		Aberdeen Jrnl 5 Nov. 2/5: A beershop [...] is usually called a ‘Tom and Jerry’ .
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 87: Tom and Jerry Shop, a low drinking shop.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 246: Tom-and-Jerry. A beerhouse.
1923		Hull Dly Mail 10 Oct. 2/6: The house ceased to be a ‘Tom and Jerry’ Shop about 1873.
1931		Execter & Plymouth Gaz. 11 Aug. 2/5: The parties had been drinking [...] at the ‘Tom and Jerry’ beer shop.

tom and jerry n.1

In derivatives

In compounds

tom and jerry n.¹