Nearby Words
TOMS Shoes & Sunglasses www.toms.com/ One for One Shoes & Sunglasses. One Pair Sold = One Person Helped
Uncle Tom's Cabin www.ask.com/Uncle+Tom's+Cabin Search Uncle Tom's Cabin Q&A for Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom
noun Disparaging and Offensive.
a black man considered by other blacks to be subservient to or to curry favor with whites.
Compare Aunt Jemima.
Origin:
1920–25, Americanism; so called after the leading character in Uncle Tom's Cabin
1920–25, Americanism; so called after the leading character in Uncle Tom's Cabin
Related forms
Uncle Tomish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Uncle Tom
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| Uncle Tom | |
| —n | |
| informal, derogatory a Black person whose behaviour towards White people is regarded as obsequious and servile | |
| [C20: after the slave who is the main character of H.B. Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)] | |
| Uncle Tomism | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
Uncle Tom
"servile black man," 1922, somewhat inaccurately in ref. to the humble, pious, but strong-willed main character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852). The image implied in the insult perhaps is more traceable to the late 19c. minstel show versions of the story, which reached a
EXPAND far wider audience than the book.
COLLAPSE
"I don't recall anyone in the 1920s using the term 'Uncle Tom' as an epithet. But what's amazing is how fast it caught on (in the 1930s). Black scholars picked up (the term) and just started throwing it at each other." [Ernest Allen, quoted in Hamilton, Kendra, "The Strange Career of Uncle Tom," Black Issues in Higher Education, June 2002]As a verb, attested from 1937.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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