'To...' Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tom

Tom is short for Thomas, a male first name that has been in use for centuries. Among well-known people with this name was one of the disciples of Jesus, who did not believe He had risen from His tomb until he could touch Him. The word 'tom' is also used to describe a male cat, as well as other male animals such as a turkey.

Of the other possible answers, Tony is a short form of the boy's name Anthony while a topaz is a precious stone and one of the gemstones associated with the month of November. A tort can describe an act that causes harm or loss to another person, who can claim recompense of some kind, at least under UK civil law.

Answer: Tough

When a job is hard to do it can be described as a tough one and the word 'tough' can also be used in expressions such as 'tough times' and 'tough luck', which mean respectively a bad or challenging period and a failed attempt or a disappointment. A tough can also be a strong, hard person who is capable of using physical force against others to achieve their, possibly criminal, ends.

A toucan, one of the other answers, is a bird native to South America which has mainly black and yellow feathers and a large, colourful beak. A torrent can be a fast-moving and forceful stream of liquid or used to describe an emphatic outpouring of words. Tombola is the name of a type of lottery, in which people buy numbered tickets and win a prize if their ticket is one of those later drawn from a container.

Answer: Tongs

Tongs are tools consisting of two arms joined so as to form a hinge at one end. Depending on their sizes, they can be used to grasp and pick up small items, such as sugar cubes, or larger ones, such as pieces of iron being worked on by a blacksmith. The word is also used for self-help groups of Chinese people and mainly groups started by immigrants to the USA. They are in contrast to triads, which are illegal, criminal gangs of Chinese people.

Toques can be different kinds of hats ranging from tall white hats worn by chefs to knitted caps and small women's hats. The word 'toils' is a synonym for 'labours' while tonsils are small pads located at the back of a person's throat that help to prevent germs from entering further into the body.

Answer: Togs

The word 'togs' is sometimes used in a number of countries as an informal term for a set of clothes, and often those worn for a specific occasion, such as 'riding togs'. In Australia and New Zealand the word can also be used to mean a 'swimming costume'. Used in a different context, togs are units of measurement of how warm something like a duvet is with the higher its number, the greater the warmth it provides.

Among the other answers, torches are now usually small portable electric lamps but at one time were bunches of burning branches or similar used to provide light. Toasters are appliances in which bread and other things can be browned, while tossers can describe people who throw things or be used colloquially to describe useless people.

Answer: Totter

Someone who walks unsteadily, either because they have physical ailment or due to imbibing alcohol, can be said to totter. The word can also be used to describe the movement of a shaking or swaying building. A totter or rag-and-bone-man was someone who made a living out of collecting people's unwanted items and selling them on for a profit. The more up-to-date term for such a person is 'junk dealer' and both the British television sit-com 'Steptoe and Son' (1962-1974) and the American sit-com 'Sanford and Son' (1972-1977) featured such characters.

A tourer is a person who travels around, usually for pleasure, or the vehicle used for such travel, while a tomfool is another word for a very foolish person. A tosher was someone who made a living by going into the sewers of Victorian London to collect and then sell rubbish they found there. It was also used to describe a thief who stole copper from the hulls of moored ships.

Answer: Tod

Now used as a boy's full first name, Tod has two possible derivations, either originally being a shortened form of Thaddeus or Theodore or being adopted from the Middle English word 'Tod(d)' for a fox. In its other sense, tod is a corruption of the London Cockney rhyming slang term 'Tod Sloan' meaning 'alone' and is mainly used as part of the longer expression 'on one's tod', which also means the same thing.

While Toby is also a male first name, derived from the earlier Tobias, and Torrance can be used as a first or last name, neither is a slang term for something else. A tonne is a metric unit of weight and is equal to 1,000 kilogrammes or 2,204.6 avoirdupois pounds.

Answer: Topper

A top hat is a man's high hat with a flat crown that is worn on some formal occasions, and 'topper' is a less formal name for this headgear. A topper is also literally something that is at the top, or tops, a pile of items and can be used less literally to mean something that exceeds either other, similar things or other people's attempts to do something.

Toddle is a description of how a young child or toddler first walks unsteadily and Tonto was the name of the 'sidekick' to the main character in the children's television series 'The Lone Ranger' (1949-1957). A toner can be either a dark powder housed in a container, which is inserted into printers and photocopiers and there enables them to print documents, or it can be a lotion used as a cosmetic.

Answer: Tosser

Although the word may not be so much used in this sense today, a tosser is someone who tosses or throws something, such as a salad. It may also be combined with another word, for instance in the term 'pancake-tosser'. Used in its different sense, the word is a slightly rude way of referring to someone who is unpleasant or unintelligent and can also describe someone who masturbates.

The alternative answers include the word 'toad', which is the name of an amphibian that is similar to a frog in appearance but spends less of its time in water and more on land. The same word can also be used to describe a contemptible person. A toff is a slang term for someone who is perceived as a high-class person while a toy is a plaything or a word used for a class of some small dogs, such as a 'toy poodle'.

Answer: Tot

A number of words can be used to describe a young child and 'tot' is one of them. It usually refers to those older than babies and possibly able to attend a nursery school, but who are not yet ready to attend a formal school. In its other sense, which originated in the UK, a tot is a small drink of strong alcohol, such as brandy or whisky.

A toxin is a natural substance produced by some plants and animals and is poisonous if taken in large amounts. In contrast, a toothsome piece of food is a tempting, pleasant-tasting one while a toothsome person is someone who seems attractive. A tontine is a type of financial scheme into which people first deposit an agreed amount of money to be invested then draw the resulting interest annually. As the members gradually die, their shares of the interest continue to be distributed annually among the survivors until only one person is left alive and takes the whole investment.

Answer: Tongue

The majority of people have a tongue in their mouths, and this is a muscular organ which helps them to eat food. The tongue contains many taste buds on its upper surface, and these have developed to be able to distinguish different types of tastes between them. A tongue of land is one that has a pointed shape and often extends from a larger piece of land out into a body of water.

Toffee is a sweet, sticky confection made from sugar and butter or cream with sometimes other ingredients added and its constituency can range from hard to soft. Tosa is a breed of large dog originating in Japan, which was bred for fighting and is used as a guard dog but has been banned in some countries as considered dangerous. The word 'topnotch' is used to describe something considered excellent or of superior quality, such as a delivery service or a product.