Word.ws English Dictionary

Tom and Jerryism

Tom and Jerryism noun: roistering; noisy drunken behaviour.

Noun

Tom and Jerryism (uncountable)

  1. (dated) roistering; noisy drunken behaviour
    • […] we have no wish to seduce sundry steady bachelors into the charmed circle of Tom and Jerryism, to the astonishment of their smug landlords and prim landladies […]1823, Mammon in London; or, The spy of the day, page iv
    • The nuisance of Tom and Jerryism could not have gained even its ephemeral popularity but for this reason. That England at the close of the reign of George III. had much to learn in the philosophy of social intercourse […]1844, George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane, The Pictorial History of England, volume 8, page 723

Origin of Tom and Jerryism

A reference to Pierce Egan's 1821 book Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom, or the subsequent stage play.

Questions about Tom and Jerryism

What does Tom and Jerryism mean?
Tom and Jerryism means roistering; noisy drunken behaviour.
What part of speech is Tom and Jerryism?
Tom and Jerryism is a noun.

Words near Tom and Jerryism in the dictionary

  1. tolzeys
  2. tom
  3. Tom and Jerries
  4. Tom and Jerry
  5. Tom and Jerryish
  6. Tom and Jerryism
  7. Tom Bawcock's Eve
  8. Tom Bombadil
  9. tom boy
  10. tom boys
  11. tom cat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Tom and Jerryism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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