Tommy Atkins

American  

noun

British.

plural

Tommy Atkins

1. any private of the British army.

2. one of the rank and file of any organization or group.

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Example Sentences

Home Secretary Sir John Anderson, a tight-lipped disciplinarian with a hard but twinkling eye, perfectly appreciates that the moderate whoopee requirements of Tommy Atkins on leave are all but irrepressible.

From Time Magazine Archive

He feels a personal relationship with his Commander in Chief, the President, as Kipling's archetypal soldier, Tommy Atkins, seems to have done with his Queen.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the palmy Victorian days when Kipling's Tommy Atkins called the British army the "thin red line of 'eroes," few Englishmen could predict how thin the line might get.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week the average Londoner had a new hero as glamorous as Tommy Atkins: the British fireman.

From Time Magazine Archive

The contribution is embellished with sketches of the costumes of Tommy Atkins and his predecessors.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98 February 15, 1890 by Various