tosh means A surname. It carries an Arena rating of 1164, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tosh ranks #3,787 of 17,150 for Funniest Words, #5,794 of 17,122 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #6,231 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,507 of 17,128 for Most Whimsical Words.
tosh is pronounced /tɒʃ/.
Why “tosh” is a great word
Sheer nonsense or foolish talk. From 19th-century British thieves' cant, of uncertain origin; perhaps a metathetic alteration of 'trash' or from 'toss,' with the sense of nonsense possibly influenced by 'tush' (an interjection expressing contempt). Unlike 'bosh' (which suggests the pompous inflation of empty ideas) or 'drivel' (which implies the slack-jawed outpourings of a feeble mind), tosh is the crisp, dismissive slap for any brand of claptrap. It is the confident bray of a barroom pundit, the polished sophistry of a dodgy prospectus, or the earnest conspiracy theory whispered over a warm pint—the ambient noise of a world that speaks more than it thinks, leaving silence itself to feel like a small, stolen honesty.
Etymology
From 19th-century British thieves' cant, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from *tarsh, a metathetic alteration of trash; or from toss.
Sense of nonsense possibly influenced by tush (“nonsense! tsk tsk!”) attested from 15th century.
name
- A surname.
- A Hassidic community
- Synonym of Nyírtass (Nyírtass); A village in Hungary
noun
- Copper; items made of copper.
- Valuables retrieved from drains and sewers.e.g.“I am present engaged in fishing for tosh in the sewers of Blastburn.”
- Rubbish, trash, (now especially) nonsense, bosh, balderdashe.g.“To think what I've gone through to hear that man! Frightful tosh it'll be, too.”
- A bath or foot pane.g.“A ‘tosh’ pan... is also provided.”
- Easy bowlinge.g.“Among the recent neologisms of the cricket field is ‘tosh’, which means bowling of contemptible easiness.”
- Used as a form of address.e.g.“'Ere, tosh, you bin at Cha'ham?”
- A half-crown coin; its value
- A crown coin; its value
- Any money, particularly pre-decimalization British coinage
verb
- To steal copper, particularly from ship hullse.g.“Toshing, a cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels' bottoms, or from dock-yard stores.”
- To search for valuables in sewerse.g.“You tend to the toshing, let Mester Hobday tend to the dealing.”
- To use a tosh-pan, either to wash, to splash, or to "bath"
- To make ‘tosh’: to tidy, to trim.e.g.“Hoo she wad try to tosh up... her breest.”
adj
- Tight.e.g.“Tosh, tight, neat.”
- Neat, clean; tidy, trim.e.g.“I gang ay fou clean and fou tosh
As a' the neighbours can tell.”
- Comfortable, agreeable; friendly, intimate.e.g.“We were a very tosh and agreeable company.”
adv
- Toshly: neatly, tidilye.g.“Shouther your arms!—O! had them tosh on, And not athraw!”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.