From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Token \To"ken\ (t[=o]"k'n), noun [OE. token, taken, AS. t[=a]cen; akin to OFries. t[=e]ken, OS. t[=e]kan, D. teeken, G. zeichen, OHG. Zeihhan, Icel. t[=a]kan, teiken, Sw. tecken, Dan. tegn, Goth. taikns sign, token, gateihan to tell, show, AS. te['o]n to accuse, G. zeihen, OHG. z[=i]han, G. zeigen to show, OHG. zeig[=o]n, Icel. tj[=a], L. dicere to say, Gr. deikny'nai to show, Skr. di[,c]. Cf. {Diction}, {Teach}.]
1. Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event; a sign; a symbol; as, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant established with Noah.
2. A memorial of friendship; something by which the friendship of another person is to be kept in mind; a memento; a souvenir.
This is some token from a never friend. --Shak.
3. Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith, etc.
Say, by this token, I desire his company. --Shak.
4. A piece of metal intended for currency, and issued by a private party, usually bearing the name of the issuer, and redeemable in lawful money. Also, a coin issued by government, esp. when its use as lawful money is limited and its intrinsic value is much below its nominal value.
Note: It is now made unlawful for private persons to issue tokens.
5. (Med.) A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death. [Obs.]
Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere forerunners of their ends. --Beau. & Fl.
6. (Print.) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
7. (Ch. of Scot.) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.
8. (Mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.
9. (Weaving) In a Jacquard loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Token money}, money which is lawfully current for more than its real value. See {Token}, noun, 4.
{Token sheet} (Print.), the last sheet of each token. --W. Savage.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Token \To"ken\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Tokened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Tokening}.] [AS. t[=a]cnian, fr. t[=a]cen token. See {Token}, noun] To betoken. [Obs.] --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: insignificantly small; a matter of form only ('tokenish' is informal); "the fee was nominal"; "a token gesture of resistance"; "a tokenish gesture" [syn: {nominal}, {token(a)}, {tokenish}]
noun
1: an individual instance of a type of symbol; "the word'error' contains three tokens of 'r'" [syn: {item}]
2: a metal or plastic disk that can be used (as a substitute for coins) in slot machines
3: something of sentimental value [syn: {keepsake}, {souvenir}, {relic}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
380 Moby Thesaurus words for "token": account, adumbration, affect, agent, allegory, alternate, alternative, analogy, annals, aroma, attribute, augur, augury, auspice, backup, badge, baggage check, basis for belief, betoken, betokening, betokenment, billhead, body of evidence, book stamp, bookplate, brand, brandish, breathe, bring forth, bring forward, bring into view, bring out, bring to notice, broad arrow, budget, cachet, cast, catalog, chain of evidence, change, changeling, character, characteristic, charactery, cheap, check, chronicle, cipher, clue, coin, colophon, commemoration, comparison, configuration, conventional symbol, copy, correspondence, cosmetic, counter, counterfeit, counterfoil, countermark, countersign, coupon, cut, dangle, data, datum, demonstrate, deputy, develop, differentia, differential, disc, disclose, display, distinctive feature, divine, divulge, docket, documentation, double, dramatize, dummy, earmark, earnest, easy, economic, economy, emblem, emblematic, embody, enact, equal, equivalent, ersatz, evidence, evince, exchange, exhibit, expose to view, express, fact, facts, fake, favor, feature, figure, fill-in, flaunt, flavor, flourish, foreshadow, foreshadowing, foreshowing, foretoken, foretokening, frugal, gesture, ghost, ghostwriter, give sign, give token, glosseme, government mark, government stamp, grounds, grounds for belief, gust, hallmark, harbinger, hat check, highlight, hint, history, icon, iconology, ideogram, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, illuminate, imitation, impress, impression, imprint, incarnate, index, indicant, indicate, indication, indicator, individualism, inexpensive, inventory, item of evidence, keepsake, keynote, label, letterhead, letters, lexeme, lexical form, lineaments, list, locum tenens, logo, logogram, logotype, love knot, low, low-priced, make clear, make plain, makeshift, manageable, manifest, manifestation, mannerism, mark, marker, marking, masthead, material grounds, materialize, mean, memento, memento mori, memorabilia, memorial, memorials, memories, metaphor, metonymy, minimal, mock, moderate, modest, mold, morpheme, muniments, mute witness, nature, next best thing, nominal, odor, omen, open sesame, parade, particularity, password, pawn, peculiarity, perform, perfunctory, personnel, phony, phrase, pictogram, piece of evidence, pinch, pinch hitter, pipe roll, plate, point to, portent, prefiguration, prefigure, preindicate, preindication, premises, premonitory shiver, premonitory sign, premonitory symptom, present, presign, presignal, presignify, presignifying, pretypify, price tag, produce, prognostic, prognostication, promise, proof, property, provisional, proxy, quality, quirk, reason to believe, reasonable, record, recording, register, registered trademark, registry, relevant fact, relic, relief, remains, remembrance, remembrancer, reminder, replacement, represent, representative, reserve, reserves, reveal, ringer, roll, roll out, rolls, roster, rota, running head, running title, savor, scrip, scroll, seal, second string, secondary, secret grip, security, semasiological unit, sememe, sensible, set forth, shabby, shadow, shape, shibboleth, shoddy, show, show forth, sigil, sign, signet, signifiant, significant, signify, singularity, slight, slug, smack, soothsay, souvenir, spare, spares, specialty, spell, spotlight, stamp, stand-in, sticker, stopgap, stub, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superficial, superseder, supplanter, surface, surrogate, symbol, symbolic, symbolic system, symbolism, symbolization, symbology, symptom, synecdoche, table, tag, taint, tally, tang, taste, temporary, tentative, term, tessera, third string, ticket, title page, token of remembrance, tokening, totem, totem pole, trace, trade name, trademark, trademark name, trait, trick, trophy, trot out, type, typify, understudy, unexpensive, unfold, utility, utility player, vestige, vicar, vicarious, vice-president, vice-regent, warrant, watchword, wave, within means, word, worth the money
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
1. A basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a {keyword}, operator or identifier. Compare: {lexeme}. 2. (Or "{pumpkin}") An abstact concept passed between cooperating agents to ensure synchronised access to a shared resource. Such a token is never duplicated or destroyed (unless the resource is) and whoever has the token has exclusive access to the resource it controls. See for example {token ring}. If several programmers are working on a program, one programmer will "have the token" at any time, meaning that only he can change the program whereas others can only read it. If someone else wants to modify it he must first obtain the token. (1999-02-23)
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