Meaning & use
toosh
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableinformalchild language
A person's bottom.
Grammar: Countable and usually used in the singular with a possessive word: sit on your toosh.
Patterns
- someone's toosh
- on someone's toosh
He slipped and landed right on his toosh.
The toddler waddled off, bare toosh in the air.
She plopped down on her toosh in the sand.
nouncountableinformal
The buttocks of a horse or other animal, especially in riding contexts.
Grammar: Used for animals rather than people; often with a possessive.
Patterns
- the horse's toosh
The pony swung its toosh around and nearly knocked me over.
She patted the horse's toosh before leading it out.
Word forms
| plural | tooshes |
|---|
Common combinations
- fall on your toosh
- He fell on his toosh on the ice.
- land on your toosh
- She landed on her toosh after the jump.
- bare toosh
- The baby ran around with a bare toosh.
- sit on your toosh
- I sat on my toosh and waited for the bus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bottom
- The neutral, everyday word; use it in polite conversation instead of toosh.
- buttocks
- The formal or medical term, used in writing and clinical contexts.
- rear
- A slightly old-fashioned polite word, common in British English.
- bum
- Very common in British informal speech; in American English it sounds more childish.
Commonly confused: toosh or tush? toosh or tosh?
toosh vs tush
Tush is a different informal word meaning a backside too, but it also means a long pointed tooth in horses; toosh is the spelling that copies the sound of the Yiddish word.
toosh vs tosh
Tosh is British slang meaning nonsense, as in 'That's a load of tosh' — it has nothing to do with someone's bottom.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'toosh' in the most natural way?
Choose one answer.
'Toosh' is an informal noun for a person's bottom, so falling on it fits. Option An is odd because brushing is not something you do to a toosh, C uses it as a verb, which it is not, and D treats it as a part of a document, which it never means.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “toosh”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.