tom

noun
UK: /tɒm/
US: /tɑːm/

  1. A male cat.

    1. Our tom is black and white. [ ] [ ]
    2. The old tom cat sat proudly on the garden wall surveying his territory. [ ] [ ]

  2. A man, often used informally.

    1. Tom is a good worker. [ ] [ ]
    2. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry seems to think they can give me advice these days. [ ] [ ]

  3. A long fishing line that has many hooks.

    1. He used a tom to catch fish. [ ] [ ]
    2. The fisherman carefully set his tom line in the deep waters hoping for a large catch. [ ] [ ]

Synonyms

guy chap
tom verb

  1. To work as a 'tom' in coal mining (dated usage).

    1. He toms in the mines. [ ] [ ]
    2. My grandfather used to tom coal, a hard and dangerous job at the time. [ ] [ ]
tom intransitive-verb

  1. To act as a peeping tom.

    1. Don't tom on my window. [ ] [ ]
    2. The neighbors warned him not to tom around or they would call the cops. [ ] [ ]

Frequently Asked Questions

The word "tom" in English means: A male cat., A man, often used informally., A long fishing line that has many hooks..

The phonetic transcription of "tom" is /tɒm/ in British English and /tɑːm/ in American English. Click the 🔊 button to hear both pronunciations.

Synonyms for "tom": guy, chap.

Example usage of "tom": "Our tom is black and white.". More examples on the page.