Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TOMB, n. [toom; Fr. tombe, tombeau; W. tom, tomen, twm, twmp, a mound, a heap; Ir. tuoma; Sp. tumba; L. tumulus, a heap or hillock; tumeo, to swell; Gr. τυμβος, Class Dm. This name was given to a place for the dead by men who raised a heap of earth over the dead.]

1. A grave, a pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited. As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Shak.
2. A house or vault formed wholly or partly in the earth, with walls and a roof for the reception of the dead.
3. A monument erected to preserve the memory of the dead.

TOMB, v.t.

To bury; to inter. [See Entomb.]

TOM'BAC, n.

A white alloy of copper; a metallic composition made by mixing and fusing together a large quantity of zink with a smaller quantity of copper.

TOMB-ED, a.

Deposited in a tomb.

TOMB-LESS, a.

Destitute of a tomb or sepulchral monument.

TOMB-NOR-RY, n.

A Shetland bird.

TOM'BOY, n. [Tom, Thomas, and boy.]

A rude boisterous boy; also in sarcasm, a romping girl. [Vulgar.]

TOMB-STONE, n. [tomb and stone.]

A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory of the deceased; a monument.

TOME, n. [Fr. from Gr. τομος, a piece or section, from τεμνω, to cut off.]

A book; as many writings as are bound in a volume, forming the part of a larger work. It may be applied to a single volume.

TO-MENT'OUS, a. [L. tomentum, down.]

In botany, downy; nappy; cottony; or flocky; covered with hairs so close as scarcely to be discernible, or with a whitish down, like wool; as, a tomentous stem or leaf. Martyn. Lee.

TOM'FOOL, n.

A great fool; trifler.

TOM-FOOL'E-RY, n.

Foolisi trifling. Ec. Rev.

TO-MOR'ROW, n. [to and morrow.]

The day after the present. One to-day is worth two to-morrows. Franklin.

TOM'PI-ON, n. [Fr. tampon, a stopple.]

The stopper of a cannon. [See Tampion.]

TOM'TIT, n.

A little bird, the titmouse.

TON,

the termination of names of places, is town, a hill or fortress. [See Town.]

TON, n.¹ [Fr.]

The prevailing fashion.

TON, n.² [Sax. tunna; Fr. tonne; Sp. tonel, a cask, a tun or butt.]

The weight of twenty hundred gross. [See Tun.] This is false orthography. The word is from the Saxon tunna, a cask, and the sense of weight is taken from that of a cask or butt.

TONE, n. [Fr. ton; Sp. tono; It. tuono; Sw. and G. ton; D. toon; Dan. tone; L. tonus; Gr. τονος, sound; L. tono, Gr. τονοω, to sound, from the root of τεινω, to strain or stretch. The L. sonus is probably the same word in a different dialect.]

1. Sound, or a modification of sound; any impulse or vibration of the air which is perceptible by the ear; as, a low tone, high tone, or loud tone; a grave tone; an acute tone; a sweet tone; a harsh tone.
2. Accent; or rather, a particular inflection of the voice, adapted to express emotion or passion; a rhetorical sense of the word. E. Porter. Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes. Dryden.
3. A whining sound; a whine; a kind of mournful strain of voice; as, children often read with a tone.
4. An affected sound in speaking.
5. In music, an interval of sound; as, the difference between the diapente and diatessaron, is a tone. Of tones there are two kinds, major and minor. The tone major is in the ratio of 8 to 9, which results from the difference between the fourth and fifth. The tone minor is as 9 to 10, resulting from the difference between the minor third and the fourth. Cyc.
6. The tone of an instrument, is its peculiar sound with regard to softness, evenness and the like. Cyc.
7. In medicine, that state of a body, in which the animal functions are healthy and performed with due vigor. Tone, in its primary signification, is tcnsion, and tension is the primary signification of strength. Hence its application to the natural healthy state of animal organs. Tone therefore in medicine, is the strength and activity of the organs, from which proceed healthy functions. So we say, the body is in a sound state, the health is sound or firm.

TONE, v.t.

1. To utter with an affected tone.
2. To tune. [See Tune.]

TON-ED, a.

Having a tune; used in composition; as, high-toned; sweet-toned.

TONE-LESS, a.

Having no tune; unmusical. Entick.

TONE-SYL-LA-BLE, n.

An accented syllable. M. Stuart.

TONG, n. [See Tongs.]

The catch of a buckle. [Not used.] [See Tongue.] Spenser.

TONGS, n. [plur. Sax. tang; Dan. and D. tang; G. zange; Sw. tång; Ice. taung; Gaelic, teangas. This seems by its orthography to be the same word as tongue, tongues, and to signify projections, shoots.]

An instrument of metal, consisting of two parts or long shafts joined at one end; used for handling things, particularly fire or heated metals. We say, a pair of tongs, a smith's tongs.