subs. phr. (common).—Drivelling nonsense; BOSH (q.v.); GAMMON (q.v.). As verb = to fool, to humbug; TOMMY-ROTICS = obscenity, erotic balderdash.
1887. Punch, 10 Sept., 111. Gladstone’s gab about ‘masses and classes’ is all TOMMY ROT.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 8. I ain’t dealing in TOMMY ROT. Ibid., 68. Well, really, mater, you’re the green ’un to believe such TOMMY ROT.
1901. L. CLEEVE, As the Twig is Bent, 199.
