Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./N.Z.) of horses or humans, nervous, touchy; keen to begin (a race, an action).

1930		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Oct. 35/2: Wise Force [a horse] was ‘toey’ before the race, and behaved in alarming fashion on his way to and at the post .
1945		Baker Aus. Lang.
1954		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 2 Apr. 20/2: Sprinter Stannum, ridden by H. M’kenzie, was ‘toey’ as he left the track.
1967		J. Hibberd White with Wire Wheels (1973) 159: Simon’s a bit toey.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 45: Chingy with two clean syrup tins rolled in his bumming bag and as ‘toey’ as a prize stallion.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 97: A colleague of mine […] used to patronise a certain establishment in Sydney called The Tender Touch whenever he was feeling a bit ‘toey’ (an Australian horse-racing expression meaning restless).
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 12: There wasn’t a player in Sydney that wasn’t a bit toey of big Henry.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 143: I didn’t drive Roger directly to see Charlie as I was still a little toey over the Lanfranchi affair.
2000		(ref. to 1930s) personal correspondence (Aus. writer) 25 June: Closing notes: ‘toey’ about humans in this country means not so much nervous as eager to get going, ready to start. Or so it was thus defined for me by a senior journalist when I inquired about it in about 1972. He’d known it as such from youth, some 40 years earlier.
2000		Hartford Courant (CT) sect. D 5 Sept. 27/2: G’Day from Down Under [...] Well, Bob, I think it’s safe to say that Joe Bloggs is a bit toey.

2. (Aus. prison) liable to attempt an escape.

1990

Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Toey. Agitated or unsettled. There is a clear inference that a toey prisoner is a potential escapee.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) of a horse or person, fast.

1972		J. Hibberd A Stretch of the Imagination (2000) 142: [A] toey winger was rendered flat of foot by a long handball over his skull.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 214: toey 2. Fast, usually of a car or sportsperson or animal. ANZ 1920s.

4. (Aus.) sexually excited.

2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] ‘They’re setting up an illegal brothel, Asian sex slaves’ [...] ’What’s the address? [...] I feel a bit toey’.
2021		Betoota-isms 267: Toey as a Roman Sandal [...] 1. To be sexually aroused, lustful 2. To be on the lookout for sexual activity.