Apedia

Abstinence Alcoholic Partly Total Preston Teetotal Tee Tot L Adjective

Teetotal means practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages, or alternatively, meaning total or absolute.

Teetotal means practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages, or alternatively, meaning total or absolute.

Front teetotal \tee-TOT-l\
Back adjective
1. Of, relating to, or practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.
2. Total; absolute.

[Probably partly tee (pronunciation of the first letter in total) + total (abstinence), and partly reduplication of total, coined by R. Turner, of Preston, England, in 1833, in a speech advocating total abstinence from alcoholic drinks]

"His wife's uncle, John Preston, described Dilorenzo to the commission as a virtual teetotal. `He's not a drinker mate,' he said." - Accused policeman alleges death threats at PIC, AAP General News (Australia), 2 Nov 1999.

Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.

Next card: Mondegreen word mishearing line i chance mon-di-green noun

Previous card: Booboisie boo-bwa-zee noun segment general public composed uneducated

Up to card list: Hard English Vocabulary