toon

Etymology 1

Abbreviation of cartoon.

noun

1. (informal) A cartoon, especially an animated television show.
   Did you know Nash had a complete break with reality, that he was loonier than a toon for almost four months? 2005, Sara Bell, The Magic in Your Touch, page 123
2. (informal, video games) A player's avatar or visible character in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
   Proxemics are very important, however, as the positioning of an agent's toon in anon-combat grouping or in the environment can show place within a social group. 2010, Ben Kei Daniel, Handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities

Etymology 2

From Hindi तून (tūn), from Sanskrit तुणि (tuṇi, “Cedrela toona”).

noun

1. A southeast Asian and Australian tree (Toona ciliata or Toona australis) of the mahogany family with fragrant dark red wood and flowers that yield a dye.
   Each plot held 10 cull trees so that 60 Australian toon and 40 tropical ash trees were treated. 1973, Gerald A. Walters, Herbert L. Wick, Coppicing to convert cull Australian toon, tropical ash to acceptable trees
2. The wood of this tree.
   After 7 years, all paint combinations except the self-primed latex are showing some failure on all species of wood except Australian toon. 1972, Roger G. Skolmen, Paintability of four woods in Hawaii, page 1

Etymology 3

Dialectal variant of town.

noun

1. (Tyneside) A town.
   Whan I was a callan, I took the play to mysel' for a week, or maybe twa, and gaed wi' a frien' i' the same trade's mysel', to see what was to be seen alang a screed o' the seacoast, frae toon to toon. 1865, George MacDonald, Alec Forbes of Howglen - Volume 2, page 244
   Sic changes owre oor toon hae passed Since Mungo placed thee there — A wee bit slender fragile stem, That needed watchfu' care. 1881, B.C., “The Chestnut Tree”, in The Border Counties' Magazine - Volumes 1-2, number 201
   It tane Bill three month fae the time he pairtit wi Beatrice tae get tae the toon o Shanzi. He stuid on a crest as the sin rase, an saw the fortress toon on the neist ridge, a silhouette lichtenin gradually intae ugly breezeblock buildins. 2011, Wulf Kurtoglu, Caroline Macafee, Braken Fences, page 43

Etymology 4

noun

1. Eye dialect spelling of tune
   But why dress me in bloo? Why not in gray, ef I play Confedrit toons? 1872, David Ross Locke, The Struggles (social, Financial and Political) of Petroleum V. Nasby, page 556
   Hark at the way them wires plays toons, as if all the imps of wickedness, and—never mind where—was fiddling dismal toons on purpose to drive a man out of his wits, or to scare him so that he couldn't do his work. 1876, Eneas Sweetland Dallas -, Once a Week, page 45
   But toon up, and a song all round. 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 39
   Why suddenly you're so eager to know the toon, now, Dwight? Before you was saying you didn't even hear no toon. 2013, Joseph Connolly, S.O.S.