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tommy

1 American  
[tom-ee] / ˈtɒm i /

noun

British.
  • tommies
    plural
  1. (sometimes initial capital letter) Tommy Atkins.

  2. Slang. bread, especially brown bread, or rations, as formerly distributed to troops and workers.


Tommy 2 American  
[tom-ee] / ˈtɒm i /

noun

  • Tommies
    plural
  1. a male given name, form of Thomas.

  2. Also Tommie, Tommye. a female given name, form of Thomasina.


tommy British  
/ ˈtɒmɪ /

noun

  1. Also called: Tommy Atkins. informal (often capital) a private in the British Army

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of tommy

First recorded in 1775–85; by shortening


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

And a handful of states even banned semiautomatic firearms, which, unlike the tommy gun, require a shooter to pull the trigger for every round fired.

From National Geographic ● Jun. 14, 2016

Modern-day bandits in developed countries are far likelier to use keyboards than tommy guns, remotely siphoning millions from the comfort and safety of another country.

From Forbes ● Nov. 8, 2013

After all, he said, some adjoining scenes were “kind of tommy gun heavy.”

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2013

Set in 1930s rural Virginia, the film is essentially a Western with tommy guns.

From BBC ● May 19, 2012

The national feeling of the tommy resolves itself into this—here he is.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Tommy refused to be upfront about why he would assume El-Sayed, of all people, would support them to begin with.

From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026

It makes about as much sense as Tommy, a human, realizing he is somehow one of Vision’s sons due to a confluence of magic and circumstance.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell and fit-again number eight Taulupe Faletau are among the notable absentees.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

At the end of “Agatha,” Billy and his magical mentor, Agatha, headed off to search for Tommy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Anyways, Kent and I both get to Tommy and just stand there.

From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle

"The soldiers who once called each other Redcoats and Yankees became the Tommies and the GIs who together saved the free world," he said.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

This is the second season in Division I for the Tommies, who joined the Summit League for most sports.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2023

The Tommies won the league championship in their second year as a Division I member.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2022

Voted out of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2019, the Tommies in 2021 became the first Division III school to move all their sports to Division I at once.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2022

But he was in the RAF and the Tommies held him accountable.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Among the crocus, some gardeners find that Crocus tommasinianus, the so-called tommies, are less often disturbed.

From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2020

I can never remember whether we're supposed to think the likes of our footballers would make useless tommies, or whether we're meant to sniff that that is all they really are.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2013

Land Rovers prowled the streets, bristling with British tommies and submachine guns.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like the tommies, the Prime Minister badly needs a better 'ole.

From Time Magazine Archive

There were tiger cats, Maltese cats, black-and-white cats, black cats and white cats, tommies and females, and his heart leaped to meet the pleading mews of all.

From The Copy-Cat and Other Stories by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

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