Tudor & Stuart · insult · noun
Tosspot
TOSS-pot /ˈtɒspɒt/pronunciation given by a dictionary
First recorded1568
A heavy drinker, one who 'tosses off' his pot of ale; a drunkard. In modern British and Irish slang it has become a general insult for a fool.
Where it was first recorded
Ulpian Fulwell, Like Will to Like (1568), per the New English Dictionary.
Also spelled: toss-pot, tospot, tossepot
In its own time
Come not in companie of blasphemous tossepots.
Today
Modern exampleGrandad says the village tosspot once rode a cow into the pub.
The old 'drunkard' sense is safe in a historical setting; the modern British 'idiot' sense is rude slang, so use it with care.
Green's Dictionary of Slang links the modern 'fool' sense to 'toss (off)', which has a crude sexual meaning; the original 1568 sense is simply 'drunkard'.
Questions
What does tosspot mean?
A heavy drinker, one who 'tosses off' his pot of ale; a drunkard. In modern British and Irish slang it has become a general insult for a fool.
When was tosspot first used?
It is first recorded 1568 — Ulpian Fulwell, Like Will to Like (1568), per the New English Dictionary.
Can you still use tosspot today?
The old 'drunkard' sense is safe in a historical setting; the modern British 'idiot' sense is rude slang, so use it with care.
Sources
- Tosspot — Murray's New English Dictionary (OED1), via WEHD
- tosspot — Merriam-Webster
- Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 ed.) — Francis Grose (Project Gutenberg #5402)
- A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words (vol. 2) — J. O. Halliwell
- tosspot, n. — Green's Dictionary of Slang (Jonathon Green)
- tosspot — Wiktionary
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: attested — found in the dictionaries and texts listed above