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teetotalled

 - 2 dictionary results

tee⋅to⋅tal

[tee-toht-l, tee-toht-l] adjective, verb -taled, -tal⋅ing or (especially British) -talled, -tal⋅ling.
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to, advocating, or pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating drink.
2. Informal. absolute; complete.
–verb (used without object)
3. to practice teetotalism.

Origin:
reduplicated var. of total, coined by R. Turner, of Preston, England, in 1833, in a speech advocating total abstinence from alcoholic drinks


tee⋅to⋅tal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

teetotal 
"pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating drink," 1834, possibly formed from total with a reduplication of the initial T- for emphasis (T-totally "totally," not in an abstinence sense, is recorded in Kentucky dialect from 1832 and is possibly older in Irish-Eng.). The use in temperance jargon was first noted Sept. 1833 in a speech advocating total abstinence (from beer as well as wine and liquor) by Richard "Dicky" Turner, a working-man from Preston, England. Also said to have been introduced in 1827 in a New York temperance society which recorded a T after the signature of those who had pledged total abstinence, but contemporary evidence for this is wanting, and Webster (1847) calls teetotaler "a cant word formed in England."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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