I've read an unusual number of books lately by Brits or Anglophiles, and something that's really sticking in my etymological craw is the turn of phrase involving "tucking into" a plate of food. Now, where I'm from, "tuck in" and "tuck" have connotations that have nothing to do with mealtime.
1. Tucking in your shirt.
2. Being tucked into bed.
3. Nip & tuck (i.e. cosmetic surgery)
4. The sewing-specific sense, taking a tuck in a waistband, for instance - a shorthand for altering something to a smaller size (I could go into far deeper detail on this one, but I won't bother.)
In thinking about this, I became further confused when my Joyceian brain took over and led me down the paths of:
5. Friar Tuck (of Robin Hood fame)
6. The surname "Tucker"
7. Tuckered out = tired
Anyone have any enlightening thoughts? Logic (spurious or otherwise) to explain a connection among these? Some of the connections I find obvious (3 & 4 dovetail very nicely in my mind), but particularly "tucking into" a plate of food is a mystery to me...
<<3 and 4 dovetail very nicely>>
If 3 and 4, then 1, 2, 3, and 4, or?
I have many times in books or magazines seen Brit use of
"tucker" to mean food. Under "tuck" in ARTFL Dictionary 1913
the fifth defintion is "food":
Tuck
Tuck, n.
1. A horizontal sewed fold, such as is made in a garment, to shorten it; a plait.
2. A small net used for taking fish from a larger one; -- called also tuck-net.
3. A pull; a lugging. [Obs.] See Tug. Life of A. Wood.
4. (Naut.) The part of a vessel where the ends of the bottom planks meet under the stern.
5. Food; pastry; sweetmeats. [Slang] T. Hughes.
Sorry, FB - upworlders, penal isle or not, also use "tuck in" in connection with food .
And then there's also "bib and tucker" ... [equally mystified]
When I was at school, we bought sweets and soft drinks from the "tuck shop". I guess this "tuck" is a variation of "tucker" meaning food. But for me, "tucker" sounds very Australian, where food you find in the wilderness (wichety grubs and the like) is called "bushtucker". Or so I'm told.
Ah, yes... I neglected to give a nod to "tucker" as Aussie slang for food. As for "tuck in" re: upworlders, Max ~ one of the first of several times I've read it lately was in the Bill Bryson travelogue about Australia. Being that it was Bryson, I wasn't sure if he was being charmingly regional, or if it was just his Anglophile tendencies.
And IP, point well taken. I just get a stronger connection between 3 & 4, and I blame it on my years of sewing.
Dear FB: for many years before some sardonic humorist called facelift "nip and tuck" it was an phrase idiom meaning narrow escape from a threatened disaster.
Interesting, Dr. Bill! I'll do a little googling to see who might have made that leap... also thanks for adding to my befuddlement with the nautical senses of the word.
one more Strine reference, there's a line in "Waltzing Matilda" about a "tucker bag".
Tucker is one Aussie slang term for food, also adopted across the Tasman. The tucker bag is, at that point, self-defining. It came from England (tuck shop has already been mentioned).
A link to lyrics of Waltzing Matilda:
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:sHGTKW4QW7cJ:members.ozemail.com.au/~enigman/australia/waltz_mat.html+lyrics+Waltzing+Matilda&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://makeashorterlink.com/?D18432108
Partridge, in Dict. of Slang & Unconvential Engl., says: "Tuck. A hearty meal, esp. (orig. and mainly in schools) of delicacies: 1844, J T Hewlett. Also, in C. 19 more gen., tuck-out, 1823; occ. in C. 19, very often in C. 20, tuck-in, 1859, H., 1st ed. (Cf. tucker, q.v.) F&H and OED. ? ex tuck, a fold or pleat: tuck-out, the earliest form, suggests a meal that removes a tuck or crease from one's waistcoat or trousers-top; but prob. imm. ex the v., 2 and 3, qq.v.—2. Hence, food; esp. delicacies (e.g., pastry, jam); orig. and mainly school s.; 1857, Hughes 'The Slogger looks rather sodden, as if he ... ate too much tuck.'—3. Appetite; dial. and provincial s.; from the late 1830's. Halliwell."
And:
"Tucker. Rations, orig. of gold-diggers: Australian, hence from ca. 1860, New Zealand: 1858 ..."
The surname Tucker seems to come from the verb 'to tuck, to full' and meant something like 'fuller'. Tuck, OTOH, seems to come from Tukka a pet-name form of the ON name Thorketill.
Hope that helps, Bill.