Online Etymology Dictionary

toggle (n.): 1769, "short pin passed through the eye of a rope," a nautical word of uncertain origin, perhaps a frequentative form of tog "tug." Meaning "a kind of wall fastener" is recorded from 1934. Toggle bolt is from 1794; toggle switch first attested 1938.
toggle (v.): 1836, from toggle (n.). Related: Toggled; toggling.
togs: "clothes," 1779, plural of tog (q.v.).
toil (v.): c.1300, toilen, "pull at, tug;" late 14c. as "struggle, work, labor," from Anglo-French tuailler, Old French toellier (see toil (n.1)). Related: Toiled; toiling.
toil (n.1): "hard work," c.1300, "turmoil, contention, dispute," from Anglo-French toil (13c.), from toiler "agitate, stir up, entangle," from Old French toeillier "drag about, make dirty" (12c.), usually said to be from Latin tudiculare "crush with a small hammer," from tudicula "mill for crushing olives, instrument for crushing," from root of tundere "to pound" (see obtuse). Sense of "hard work, labor" (1590s) is from the related verb (see toil (v.)).
toil (n.2): "net, snare," 1520s, from Middle French toile "hunting net, cloth, web" (cf. toile d'araignée "cobweb"), from Old French teile, from Latin tela "web, woven stuff," related to texere "to weave" (see texture). Now used largely in plural (caught in the toils of the law).
toile (n.): c.1400, "type of heavy, coarse cloth," from Old French toile "linen cloth, canvas" (see toil (n.2)). As a type of dress material, from 1794.
toilet (n.): 1530s, "cover or bag for clothes," from Middle French toilette "a cloth, bag for clothes," diminutive of toile "cloth, net" (see toil (n.2)). Sense evolution is to "act or process of dressing" (1680s); then "a dressing room" (1819), especially one with a lavatory attached; then "lavatory or porcelain plumbing fixture" (1895), an American euphemistic use. Toilet paper is attested from 1884 (the Middle English equivalent was arse-wisp). Toilet training is recorded from 1940.
toiletries (n.): preparations in grooming," 1927; see toilet + -ry.
toilsome (adj.): 1580s, from toil + -some. An earlier word was toilous (early 15c.). The opposite, toilless (c.1600) is much less common.
tokay (n.): 1710, rich sweet wine from the region of Tokay (Hungarian Tokaj) a town in Hungary.
toke (n.): 1968, "inhalation of a marijuana cigarette or pipe smoke," U.S. slang, from earlier verb meaning "to smoke a marijuana cigarette" (1952), perhaps from Spanish tocar in sense of "touch, tap, hit" or "get a shave or part." In 19c. the same word in British slang meant "small piece of poor-quality bread," but this probably is not related.
token (n.): Old English tacen "sign, symbol, evidence" (related to tæcan "show, explain, teach"), from Proto-Germanic *taiknan (cf. Old Saxon tekan, Old Norse teikn "zodiac sign, omen, token," Old Frisian, Middle Dutch teken, Dutch teken, Old High German zeihhan, German zeichen, Gothic taikn "sign, token"), from PIE root *deik- "to show" (see teach).

Meaning "coin-like piece of stamped metal" is first recorded 1590s. Original sense of "evidence" is retained in by the same token (mid-15c.), originally "introducing a corroborating evidence."
token (adj.): "nominal," 1915, from token (n.). In integration sense, first recorded 1960.
tokenism (n.): 1962, from token (adj.) in the integration sense + -ism.
Tokyo: so named 1868, from Japanese to "east" + kyo "capital;" its earlier name was Edo, literally "estuary."
told: past tense of tell, from Old English talde, past tense of tellan (see tell (v.)).
tole (n.): "ornamented and painted sheet iron," 1946, from French tôle "sheet iron," from dialectal taule "table," from Latin tabula "a flat board" (see table (n.)).
tolerable (adj.): early 15c., "bearable," from Middle French tolerable (14c.), from Latin tolerabilis "that may be endured," from tolerare "to tolerate" (see toleration). Meaning "moderate, middling, not bad" is recorded from 1540s. Related: Tolerably.
tolerance (n.): early 15c., "endurance, fortitude," from Old French tolerance (14c.), from Latin tolerantia "endurance," from tolerans, present participle of tolerare "to bear, endure, tolerate" (see toleration). Of authorities, in the sense of "permissive," first recorded 1530s; of individuals, with the sense of "free from bigotry or severity," 1765. Meaning "allowable amount of variation" dates from 1868; and physiological sense of "ability to take large doses" first recorded 1875.
tolerant (adj.): 1784, from Latin tolerantia "endurance," from tolerans, present participle of tolerare "to bear, endure, tolerate" (see toleration). Related: Tolerantly.
tolerate (v.): 1530s, from Latin toleratus, past participle of tolerare (see toleration). Related: Tolerated; tolerating.
toleration (n.): 1510s, "permission granted by authority, license," from Middle French tolération (15c.), from Latin tolerationem (nominative toleratio) "a bearing, supporting, enduring," noun of action from past participle stem of tolerare "to tolerate, literally "to bear" (see extol). Meaning "forbearance, sufferance" is from 1580s. Religious sense is from Act of Toleration, statute granting freedom of religious worship (with conditions) to dissenting Protestants in England, 1689.
toll (n.): "tax, fee," Old English toll, variant of toln, cognate with Old Norse tollr, Old Frisian tolen, Old High German zol, German Zoll, representing an early Germanic borrowing from Late Latin tolonium "custom house," from Latin telonium "tollhouse," from Greek teloneion "tollhouse," from telones "tax-collector," from telos "tax" (see tele-; for sense, cf. finance). Originally in a general sense of "payment exacted by an authority;" meaning "charge for right of passage along a road" is from late 15c.
toll (v.): "to sound with single strokes," mid-15c., probably a special use of tollen "to draw, lure," early 13c. variant of Old English -tyllan in betyllan "to lure, decoy," and fortyllan "draw away, seduce," of obscure origin. The notion is perhaps of "luring" people to church with the sound of the bells, or of "drawing" on the bell rope. Related: Tolled; tolling.
tollbooth (n.): early 14c., originally a tax collector's booth, from toll (n.) + booth.
toluene (n.): colorless liquid hydrocarbon, 1871, from German toluin (Berzelius, 1842), from Tolu, place in Colombia (now Santiago de Tolu) from which balsam of Tolu was obtained from the bark of certain trees. The chemical so called because it was first distilled from balsam of Tolu.
Tom: familiar shortening of masc. proper name Thomas, used by late 14c. as a type of a nickname for a common man. Applied 17c. as a nickname for several exceptionally large bells. Short for Uncle Tom in the sense of "black man regarded as too servile to whites" is recorded from 1959. Tom Walker, U.S. Southern colloquial for "the devil" is recorded from 1833. Tom and Jerry is first attested 1828 in many extended senses, originally the names of the two chief characters (Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn) in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (1821); the U.S. cat and mouse cartoon characters debuted 1940 in "Puss Gets the Boot." Tom Thumb (1570s) was a miniature man in popular tradition before P.T. Barnum took the name for a dwarf he exhibited.
tom-tom (n.): 1690s, "drum" (originally used in India), from Hindi tam-tam, probably of imitative origin (cf. Sinhalese tamat tama and Malay tong-tong).
tomahawk (n.): 1610s, tamahaac, from Algonquian (probably Powhatan) tamahack "what is used in cutting," from tamaham "he cuts." Cognate with Mohegan tummahegan, Delaware tamoihecan, Micmac tumeegun.
tomato (n.): 1753, earlier tomate (c.1600), from Spanish tomate (mid-16c.) from Nahuatl tomatl "a tomato," literally "the swelling fruit," from tomana "to swell." Spelling probably influenced by potato (1565).

A member of the nightshade family, all of which contain poisonous alkaloids. Introduced in Europe from the New World, by 1550 they regularly were consumed in Italy but grown only as ornamental plants in England and not eaten there or in the U.S. at first. An encyclopedia of 1753 describes it as "a fruit eaten either stewed or raw by the Spaniards and Italians and by the Jew families of England." Introduced in U.S. as part of a program by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (1789), but not commonly eaten until after c.1830.

Alternative name love apple and alleged aphrodisiac qualities have not been satisfactorily explained; perhaps from Italian name pomodoro, taken as from adorare "to adore," but probably actually from d'or "of gold" (in reference to color) or de Moro "of the Moors." Slang meaning "an attractive girl" is recorded from 1929, on notion of juicy plumpness.
tomb (n.): late 13c., from Anglo-French tumbe, Old French tombe (12c.), from Late Latin tumba (cf. Italian tomba, French tombe, Spanish tumba), from Greek tymbos "burial mound, grave, tomb," from PIE root *teu- "to swell" (see thigh). The final -b began to be silent 14c. (cf. lamb, dumb). The Tombs, slang for "New York City prison" is recorded from 1840.
tombola (n.): "Italian lotto-style lottery," 1880, from Italian tombolare "to tumble, fall upside down."
tombolo (n.): 1899, from Italian tombolo "sand dune," from Latin tumulus "hillock, mound" (see thigh).
tomboy (n.): 1550s, "rude, boisterous boy," from Tom + boy; meaning "bold or immodest woman" is attested from 1570s; that of "girl who acts like a spirited boy" is first recorded 1590s.
tombstone (n.): 1560s, originally the flat stone atop a grave (or the lid of a stone coffin); from tomb + stone (n.). Meaning "gravestone, headstone" is attested from 1711. The city in Arizona, U.S., said to have been named by prospector Ed Schieffelin, who found silver there in 1877 after being told all he would find there was his tombstone.
tomcat (n.): 1809, from Tom + cat; probably influenced by Tom the Cat in the popular children's book "The Life and Adventures of a Cat" (1760); replaced earlier Gib-cat, from diminutive of Gilbert, though Tom was applied to male kittens c.1300. Used of the males of other beasts and birds since 1791. Cf. also Tibert. The verb meaning "to pursue women promiscuously for sexual gratification" is recorded from 1927.
tome (n.): 1510s, from Middle French tome, from Latin tomus "section of a book, tome," from Greek tomos "volume, section of a book," originally "section, piece cut off," from temnein "to cut," from PIE *tom-/*tem- "to cut" (cf. second element in Latin aestimare "to value, appraise," Old Church Slavonic tina "to cleave, split," Middle Irish tamnaim "I cut off," Welsh tam "morsel"). Originally "a single volume of a multi-volume work;" sense of "a large book" is attested from 1570s.
tomfool (n.): "buffoon, clown," 1640s, from Middle English Thom Foole, personification of a mentally deficient man (mid-14c.), see Tom + fool (n.).
tomfoolery (n.): 1812, from tomfool + -ery.
Tommy: "British soldier," 1884, from Thomas Atkins, since 1815 the sample name for filling in army forms. Tommy gun (1929) is short for Thompson gun (see Thompson). Soon extended to other types of sub-machine gun, especially those favored by the mob.
tommyrot: 1884, from tommy in sense of "a simpleton" (1829), diminutive of Tom (as in tomfool) + rot.
tomography (n.): 1935, from Greek tomos "slice, section" (see tome) + -graphy.
tomorrow: late 13c., to morewe, from Old English to morgenne "on (the) morrow," from to "at, on" (see to) + morgenne, dative of morgen "morning" (see morn). Written as two words until 16c., then as to-morrow until early 20c.
ton (n.): late 14c., tonne, unit for measuring the carrying capacity of a ship, originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun (q.v.). The two words were not differentiated until 1680s. The measure of weight is first recorded late 15c.; the spelling ton is from 1530s, and became firmly established 18c.
tonal (adj.): 1776; see from tone + -al (1).
tonality (n.): 1824; see tonal + -ity.
tone (n.): mid-14c., from Old French ton (13c.), from Latin tonus "a sound, tone, accent," literally "stretching" (in Medieval Latin, a term peculiar to music), from Greek tonos "vocal pitch, raising of voice, accent, key in music," originally "a stretching, taut string," related to teinein "to stretch" (see tenet). Sense of "manner of speaking" is from c.1600. First reference to firmness of body is from 1660s.
tone (v.): "to impart tone to," 1811, from tone (n.). Related: Toned; toning.
toner (n.): 1888, agent noun from tone (v.). As a photography chemical, from 1920; in xerography, from 1954.