tot, noun2
- Origin:
- EnglishShow more Special uses of general English tot a small measure of drink, a dram.
1. in historical contexts. The tot: The measure of wine (usually much more than a tot) supplied several times a day to a labourer in part payment of his wages. Also attributive.
[1916 L.D. Flemming Fool on Veld (1933) 48He predicts that the general cry, For labour that cannot be got, Will be instantly silenced if I Give my niggers a regular ‘tot’.]
1952 F. Marquard in Drum June 8The whole system should be abolished...The tot is poison to the brain: it deprives people of a clear mind.
2. combinations and Special Combination
tot system in historical contexts, the custom whereby labourers, especially those employed on vineyards (or ‘wine farms’), were paid part of their wages in wine; dop system, see dop noun sense 3 c; also transferred sense;
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