phr. (colloquial).—Exactly; to a nicety; as true as an angle drawn with a T-square.
1698. FARQUHAR, Love and a Bottle, iv. 3. He answered the description the page gave TO A T, sir.
1700. Labour in Vain [Harleian Miscellany, VI. 387]. Having cajoled my inquirer, and fitted his humour TO A T.
1759–67. STERNE, Tristram Shandy, ii. 5. We could manage this matter TO A T.
1889. R. MARSH, The Crime and the Criminal, xxii. Levett turned out a regular trump, and they hit it off together TO A T.
TO BE MARKED WITH A T, verb. phr. (old).—Known as a thief. [Formerly convicted thieves were branded with a ‘T’ in the hand.]
T. T., phr. (American).—‘Too thin’ or ‘too transparent’: e.g., ‘The story is T. T.’
