||Ton`sil*i"tis (?), n. [NL. See Tonsil, and -itis.] (Med.)
||Inflammation of the tonsil; quinsy. [Written also, and more usually,
||tonsillitis.]
||
Ton*sil"o*tome (?), n. [Tonsil + Gr. te`mnein to cut.] (Surg.) An
instrument for removing the tonsils.
Ton`sil*ot"o*my (?), n. (Surg.) The operation of removing the tonsil,
or a portion thereof.
Ton"sor (?), n. [L.] A barber. Sir W. Scott.
Ton*so"ri*al (?), a. [L. tonsorius, fr. tonsor a shearer, barber, fr.
tondere, tonsum, to shear. See Tonsure.] Of or pertaining to a barber,
or shaving.
Ton"sure (?), n. [F., fr. L. tonsura a shearing, clipping, from
tondere, tonsum, to shear, shave; cf. Gr. &?; to gnaw; perhaps akin to
Gr. &?; to cut, and E. tome.] 1. The act of clipping the hair, or of
shaving the crown of the head; also, the state of being shorn.
2. (R. C. Ch.) (a) The first ceremony used for devoting a person to the
service of God and the church; the first degree of the clericate, given
by a bishop, abbot, or cardinal priest, consisting in cutting off the
hair from a circular space at the back of the head, with prayers and
benedictions; hence, entrance or admission into minor orders. (b) The
shaven corona, or crown, which priests wear as a mark of their order
and of their rank.
Ton"sured (?), a. Having the tonsure; shaven; shorn; clipped; hence,
bald.
A tonsured head in middle age forlorn.
Tennyson.
Ton*tine" (?), n. [F., from It. tontina; — so called from its inventor,
Tonti, an Italian, of the 17th century.] An annuity, with the benefit
of survivorship, or a loan raised on life annuities with the benefit of
survivorship. Thus, an annuity is shared among a number, on the
principle that the share of each, at his death, is enjoyed by the
survivors, until at last the whole goes to the last survivor, or to the
last two or three, according to the terms on which the money is
advanced. Used also adjectively; as, tontine insurance.
Too many of the financiers by professions are apt to see nothing in
revenue but banks, and circulations, and annuities on lives, and
tontines, and perpetual rents, and all the small wares of the shop.
Burke.
||To"nus (?), n. [L. a sound, tone. See Tone.] (Physiol.) Tonicity, or
||tone; as, muscular tonus.
||
To"ny (?), n.; pl. Tonies (#). [Abbrev. from Anthony.] A simpleton.
L'Estrange.
A pattern and companion fit For all the keeping tonies of the pit.
Dryden.