teetotum

[ tee-toh-tuhm ]

/ tiˈtoʊ təm /

Save This Word!

noun

any small top spun with the fingers.

a kind of die having four sides, each marked with a different initial letter, spun with the fingers in an old game of chance.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of teetotum

1710–20; earlier T totum, alteration of totum name of toy (<Latin tōtum, neuter of tōtus all) by prefixing its initial letter, which appeared on one side of the toy

Words nearby teetotum

teething troubles, teethridge, teetotal, teetotaler, teetotalism, teetotum, teevee, tef, teff, tefillah, tefillin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use teetotum in a sentence

Warble was unfamiliar with the teetotum-like things, but the others kindly instructed her.
Ptomaine Street|Carolyn Wells
The boat was a villainous little tub, and appeared to me to go round like a teetotum.
With an Ambulance During the Franco-German War|Charles Edward Ryan
Every one appears to patronize the contrivance, and you constantly hear the click of the teetotum along the beach.
A Midsummer Drive Through The Pyrenees|Edwin Asa Dix
Scopperil, skop′e-ril, n. a top: teetotum: the bone-foundation of a button.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various

Mr. Bright used to say he could not turn his back on himself, but Mr. Gladstone spins round and round like a teetotum.
Ireland as It Is|Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

British Dictionary definitions for teetotum

teetotum

/ (tiːˈtəʊtəm) /

noun archaic

a spinning top bearing letters of the alphabet on its four sides

such a top used as a die in gambling games

Word Origin for teetotum

C18: from T totum, from T initial inscribed on one of the faces + totum the name of the toy, from Latin tōtum the whole

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012