subs. (old).—1. ‘A large stick’ (GROSE). THE CRUTCH AND TOOTHPICK BRIGADE (modern) = foppish ‘men about town’: spec. (c. 1884) hangers-on at stage doors when burlesque was in full swing at the Gaiety: they affected, as the badge of their tribe, a crutch-handled stick and a toothpick.
2. (military).—See quot.
1901. Graphic, 15 June, 798. 2. These gallant gentlemen generally display sovereign contempt for the TOOTHPICK, as they dub the ornamental appendage to uniform … by the regulations.
Adj. (American).—Narrow and pointed, like a TOOTHPICK: spec. of footgear.
See ARKANSAS TOOTHPICK.
