st 4311

[ossian]

11a. Tom's sour type of pie. -a-t (4)

Is tom really a slang word for a prostitute as posted earlier in the week.? I have never heard of the expression (but then I have led a sheltered life) and have been unable to verify it. If it is, then TART is the correct answer. However TOMS is often used for CATS so sour TOMS could be CAST. Is CAST an obscure word for a type of pie? Stew.

[piggling]

tom is definitely a word for prostitute

[shaneystar2]

A Tom is a cockney slang word for tart .
Chambers gives it as ..Tom ...a prostitute .

[justretired]

Tart (meaning sour as well as lady of easy vitue) is probably the word reqired.

[BigDave44]

Among the more plausible explanations is that it is Cockney rhyming slang for ***** - Thomas More.

The word is used a lot on programs like "The Bill".

[BigDave44]

The stars wiped out w h o r e !!

[Quizmonkey]

If 'tom's sour' were to denote an anagram of CATS that would be an 'indirect anagram' - heavily frowned upon by any cryptic compiler worth their salt. I speak as a compiler myself. Why are you so reluctant to believe that tart is the answer?

[ossian]

I am not reluctant to accept TART as the answer, it's obviously the correct one. It's just that I have never heard of the word Tom used with this meaning. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary is also blissfully unaware of this meaning as are several on-line dictionaries. Tom has got such masculine connoctations that it seems to me surprising that it has been used for a prostitute. Of course, in these liberated and enlightened times the word prostitute may not only apply to the female sex. Still, I do believe it to be an unusual adaptation. Does anyone know of the derivation of the word TOM in this particular use? Stew.

[BigDave44]

I did post an explanation above, but nothing about the origin is certain.

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