tommy

n. a common name for a private soldier in the British Army, especially during the First and Second World Wars.

n. a colloquial term for a private in the British Army, derived from the placeholder name 'Tommy Atkins' used in official manuals.

“The old letters described the difficult life of a typical Tommy in the trenches.”

“War memorials across the country often feature a bronze statue of a weary Tommy, head bowed in reflection of the heavy losses sustained in the Great War.”

British English · Informal · Archaic

n. a short or friendly name for a man named Thomas.

n. a common hypocoristic or diminutive form of the male given name Thomas.

“Everyone in the neighborhood knows little Tommy and his dog.”

“While he went by Thomas in professional circles, his childhood friends still addressed him as Tommy during their annual reunions.”

Informal

n. a short name for a Tommy gun, a type of fast-shooting gun used in the past.

n. a colloquial abbreviation for the Thompson submachine gun, frequently associated with mid-20th-century American crime and military history.

“The old gangster movies always show the characters carrying a tommy in a violin case.”

“The rapid fire of the tommy became a signature sound of the prohibition-era gang wars in Chicago.”

American English · Slang