[f. TALL a. + (app.) BOY.]
1. A tall-stemmed glass or goblet. Now local.
1676. D’Urfey, Mad. Fickle, II. i. Bella. … Where shall we meet at night? Maul. At Lambs with the Fidles and a Talboy.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. xliii. 195. Cups, Goblets, and Talboys of Gold, Silver, and Cristal.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Tall-boy, a Pottle or two Quart-pot full of Wine.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v., The Maister wants a jug o’ ale … an’ two tumbler-glasses—’e said not to sen’ them tall-boys, kigglin’ [= tottering].
2. A tall chest of drawers (often raised on legs), usually in two parts, one standing on the other, the lower sometimes projecting beyond the upper; sometimes applied to a chest of drawers or a bureau standing on a dressing-table. Also attrib.
1769. Dublin Merc., 16–19 Sept., 2/2. Chamber chest, tallboy, dining tables, two side-boards.
1884. W. Sussex Gaz., 25 Sept. Mahogany tallboy chest of drawers.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 28 June, 3/3. Tall-Boys … those double chests of drawers which are to be found in nearly all old-fashioned houses.
1909. Civ. Serv. Stores Assoc., May, 451. 18th century Mahogany Tall Boy Chest, with pull-out-tray in centre.
3. A kind of tall chimney-pot.
1884. Daily Tel., 28 Jan. (Cassell). Scores of pots, tallboys, cowls … swept from the chimney-stacks of the Metropolis on Saturday night.
1904. Daily Chron., 21 June, 3/5. I was fixing her some ‘tallboys’ on the chimneys.
4. humorous. ? A great man, a ‘big pot.’
1820. Examiner, No. 644. 513/2. To play the coxcomb, pedant, and tall boy. Ibid., No. 651. 629/2. The Imperial Tall-boy of Russia.
