Also 89 toggel. [Said to be orig. in nautical use; of obscure etymology, but app. closely related to TUGGLE v., to catch, hold fast, entangle, and to TAGGLE v., TAIGLE v., and their nasalized form TANGLE. The use of a toggle was originally to catch or hold fast a rope or chain and prevent its slipping.]
1. Naut. A short pin passed through a loop or the eye of a rope, or a link of a chain, or through a bolt, to keep it in place, or for the attachment of another line.
176976. Falconer, Dict. Marine, Toggel, cabillot, a small wooden pin, about five or six inches in length, and usually tapering from the middle towards the extremities. It is used to fix transversely in the lower part of a tackle, in which it serves as an hook whereby to attach the tackle to a strop, slings, or any body whereon the effort of the tackle is to be employed. There are also toggels of another kind, employed to fasten the top-gallant sheets to the spar, which is knotted round the cap at the top-mast-head.
1775. Ash, 1828 Webster, Toggel.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, viii. The yard-ropes were fixed to the halter by a toggle in the running noose of the latter.
1854. Hooker, Himal. Jrnls., I. ix. 218. Tethered by halters and toggles to a long rope.
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise Cachalot, vi. The strap of the second cutting tackle was inserted and secured by passing a huge toggle of oak through its eye.
fig. phr. 183540. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 348. Theres an eend to that; youve put a toggle into that chain.
2. transf. a. A cross-piece attached to the end of a line or chain (e.g., a watch-chain), or fixed in a belt or strap for attaching a weapon, etc., by a loop or ring; also, a cross-piece put through a loop to effect compression by twisting. b. A device for fixing an anchor: see quot. 1831. c. A movable pivoted cross-piece serving as a barb in a harpoon. d. Mech. A toggle-joint. e. dial. Each of the two short handles or nibs of a scythe.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. vi. 100. In 1821, R. F. Hawkins, a Kentish mariner, obtained a patent for an anchor, the arm and flukes of which turned round in eyeholes at the termination of the shank, until they formed therewith an angle of about sixty degrees, in which position they were detained by a thick piece of iron, called by the inventor a toggle. When this anchor is let go, one of the ends of the toggle comes in contact with the ground, and puts both flukes in a position to enter; and when the strain comes on the cable, the other end of the toggle sets the anchor in its holding position, not with one fluke only, as in the common anchor, but with both.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Receipts, Ser. I. 310/2. This straightens the toggles, and causes a sharp impression of the stamp upon the leather.
1875. Bedford, Sailors Pocket Bk., x. (ed. 2), 380. A strop round the nose, hove short with a short stick or toggle, will rapidly tame an unmanageable horse.
1880. Clark Russell, Sailors Sweetheart, viii. Around his waist was a broad leather belt with toggles for the reception of a knife or a pistol.
1881. Sydney Morn. Herald, 24 Oct. The harpoon was a patent one, with a toggle, and opens when there is any strain on the line.
1885. Reports Provinc. (E.D.D.). I cant mow the lawn, sir, till Ive got a new snead and toggles to my scythe.
1887. Q. Rev., Jan., 97. The exquisite workmanship of the toggles and sword guards.
1905. Miss A. S. Griffith, trans. Caparts Prim. Art Egypt, Index. Studs or toggles for cloaks, pp. 57, 59.
1908. Installation News, II. 22/2. This is done by connecting a bell and dry cell between the screw D and the toggle of the switch, so that when the piston rises and makes contact with the toggle the bell rings before sufficient pressure is exerted to throw off the switch.
3. attrib. and Comb., as toggle action, line, -noose, pattern; toggle-like adj.; also toggle-bolt, a bolt having a hole through the head to receive a toggle; toggle-chain, a short chain fastened to a timber sledge, having a toggle-hook at the end by which the effective length of the binding chain is regulated; toggle-harpoon, a harpoon with a pivoted toggle instead of barbs; toggle-hole, a hole made, as in blubber, for inserting a toggle (Cent. Dict.); toggle-hook, a long-shanked hook used on a toggle-chain (Cent. D. Supp.); toggle-iron = toggle-harpoon; toggle-joint, a joint consisting of two pieces hinged endwise, operated by applying pressure at the elbow; toggle-lanyard: see quot.; toggle-pin = sense 1; toggle-press, a press operated by means of one or more toggle-joints.
1893. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Dec., 716. The drawing together of the nave flanges produces a *toggle action of the spokes.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 152. *Toggle-bolt.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 99. The Toggle-Bolt has a flat head and a mortise through it, that receives a toggle or pin.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 249. What is known to whalers as a *toggle-harpoon is a modification of the lily-iron.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Toggle iron.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 526/2. The hand harpoon is a light and efficient weapon introduced by the Americans, to whom it is known as a toggle-iron.
1847. Webster, *Toggle-joint, an elbow or knee-joint.
1869. Routledges Ev. Boys Ann., 412. The cranked knee or toggle joint.
1879. Cassells Techn. Educ., IV. 12/2. A box of wooden soldiers, with a slightly jointed framework on which they can be stuck, which elongates and contracts is simply a combination of toggle-joints.
1874. C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, App. 312. It [the toggle] has a hole near one end, through which a rope is attached, which is termed the *toggle-lanyard. This lanyard is used in handling or confining the toggle.
1904. Brit. & Col. Printer, 10 March, 14/2. Links pivoted to the lever are slotted to engage pins carried by the extension of the hand lever, which thus exerts a *toggle-like action on the lever.
1880. Harpers Mag., LX. 851. The engines, by means of the *toggle line, steadily haul the seine to the shore.
1883. Century Mag., Sept., 675/2. Attaching a *toggle noose where the trace joins the harness.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. IV. 210/1. The press employed may be either of the hydraulic or of the *toggle pattern.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Toggle-press, one in which the platen is moved by the flexion or extension of two bars which unite to form a knee-joint.