Toms

[Everhelpful]

Why are "Ladies of the night" called Toms on TV's The Bill?

[joko]

because tomcats prowl the streets at night looking for sex, and so do prostitutes

[Everhelpful]

Thanks,joko,I thought it was rhyming slang for Prostitutes.

[kempie]

I suspect that it is probably linked to the original meaning of the word Tomboy.

Although it is now exclusively used in the sense of "a boyish girl", Tomboy derives from, and is a corruption of, the Anglo-Saxon 'tumbere' meaning dancer or romper (cf French 'tomber' = to tumble; to fall) and was used in the 16th Century for a promiscuous boisterous girl or woman; a 'romping-girl'; or harlot.

By the 17th Century Tom Rig was a slang term for a prostitute or loose woman (Rig meant a wanton, from French se rigoler = amuse oneself; to make merry).