tosher

English

Etymology 1

From 19th-century British thieves' cant tosh (“copper; items made of copper”) + -er (“one who uses or acquires”).

Noun

tosher (plural toshers)

1. (historical, cant) A thief who steals the copper siding from the bottoms of vessels, particularly in or along the Thames.
   • 1859, J.C. Hotten, A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words used at the present day, preceded by a history of cant and vulgar language, with glossaries of two secret languages, by a London antiquary

     Toshers, men who steal copper from ships' bottoms in the Thames.

2. (chiefly historical) A scavenger of valuables lost in the sewers, particularly those of London during the Victorian Age.
   • 1851, H. Mayhew, London labour and the London poor, II. 150/2

     The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called by the name of ‘Toshers’, the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along shore being known among themselves by the general term ‘tosh’, a word more particularly applied by them to anything made of copper.

Derived terms

• toshing

Etymology 2

See tosh.

Adjective

tosher

1. comparative form of tosh: more tosh

Anagrams

• Rothes, Stoehr, hetros, hoster, others, re-shot, rehost, reshot, short e, shorte, shoter, throes