Toby mush

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English

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

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Toby mush (plural Toby mushes)

  1. (UK) An assistant to a Toby on a street market.
    • 1994, George Evans, Shropshire's Wonderful Markets, →ISBN, page 85:
      He has a 'Toby mush' or assistant who collects tolls for the Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough (District) Council who control the general market, also called the pannier market, which I understand is a profitable business.
    • 2010, Howard Jacobson, The Mighty Walzer, →ISBN, page 82:
      According to market mythology, the Toby Mush who went from stall to stall in policemen's boots, with a clinking leather rent-collector's bag on his shoulder, deciding who who got to stand where at Stockport, was afflicted with a blind eye and a bent right arm, so many backhanders did he take possession of on market days.