toys

Noun

toy (plural toys)

1. Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.
   • A grown man like him does not play with a child’s toy.
2. A thing of little importance or value; a trifle.
   • tis a pretie toy to be a Poet.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
3. A simple, light piece of music, written especially for the virginal.
4. (obsolete) Love play, amorous dalliance; fondling.
   • Then seemed him his Lady by him lay, / And to him playnd, how that false winged boy, / Her chast hart had subdewd, to learne Dame pleasures toy.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
5. (obsolete) A vague fancy, a ridiculous idea or notion; a whim.
   • Though they do talk with you, and seem to be otherwise employed, and to your thinking very intent and busy, still that toy runs in their mind, that fear, that suspicion, that abuse, that jealousy […].1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], chapter 3, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC...
6. (obsolete) An old story; a silly tale.
   • More strange than true: I never may believe these antique fables, nor these fairy toys.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...

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