Tommy Atkins

American  

noun

British.

1. any private of the British army.

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

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• Tommy Atkins
  plural

Example Sentences

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

As a veteran commander, the Field Marshal called it "dangerous" to keep on telling Tommy Atkins that the enemy is not the actual soldiers he will have to fight but vague "Hitlerism."

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

Those are British soldiers, Hanky; Tommy Atkins, you know, come over to France to give a helping hand to keep the Germans out of Paris.”

From The Big Five Motorcycle Boys on the Battle Line Or, With the Allies in France by Marlow, Ralph