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A conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin
Answer for the clue "A conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin ", 8 letters:
teetotum
Alternative clues for the word teetotum
Word definitions for teetotum in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Teetotum \Tee*to"tum\, n. [For T-totum. It was used for playing games of chance, and was four-sided, one side having the letter T on it, standing for Latin totum all, meaning, take all that is staked, whence the name. The other three sides each had a letter ...
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
A teetotum (or T-totum ) is a form of gambling spinning top that is known across Europe from Roman times. It has a polygonal body - originally four-sided - marked with letters or numbers, which indicate the result of each spin. The name originates from ...
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 (context historical English) A toy (top) similar to a dreidel. 2 (context historical English) A working men's club conducted under religious influences, as an alternative to drinking in the saloon.
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. a conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin; "he got a bright red top and string for his birthday" [syn: top , whirligig , spinning top ]
Usage examples of teetotum.
Building this fantastic teetotum out in space, steering it into this vast orbit, no doubt they esteemed themselves the mistresses of their universe.
With incredible swiftness the water bore me on, now spinning me round and round like a teetotum, now carrying me this way, now that, but all the time bringing me closer to the abyss.
Goose, spinning the teetotum with the enthusiasm of a hardened gamester.
Old Boy seemed well pleased at having made such a good stroke of business, and spun round on one foot like a teetotum, hallooing so loud that the wood re-echoed.
I have already told you about Miss Dorothy, generally known as Dot, Clapton, who was now installed behind the typewriter in the clerk's room, getting on with her job while turning the head of Claude Erskine-Brown, a part of his body which, at the sight of any reasonably attractive young woman, spins round like a teetotum.
A' the time we lay there it lowped and flang and capered and span like a teetotum, and whiles we could hear it skelloch as it span.