tote

Etymology 1

Probably from Middle Low German tûte, tǖte (“horn, conical paper bag”), whence also German Tute (“horn, bugle”) and German Tüte (“bag, paper bag”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Tüütje (“paper bag”), West Frisian tút (“spout, toot, kiss”), Dutch tuit (“horn, spout, nozzle”), Swedish tuta (“to honk”), Danish tud (“spout, nozzle”), Old Norse tútna (“to be blown up”). Further origin unknown.

noun

1. A tote bag.
2. A heavy burden.
3. (logistics) A kind of plastic box used for transporting goods.
   They can be used for palleted bags, totes, or bales and can also be used to transport large logs. 2012, Chittaranjan Kole, Chandrashekhar P. Joshi, David R. Shonnard, Handbook of Bioenergy Crop Plants, page 129

verb

1. (Southern US) To carry or bear.
   We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   It took ten pallbearers to carry her coffin. There was a picture of them toting it in one of the tabloids. 1980, Stephen King, The Wedding Gig
   In stretches, this new Apes is an audacious, idiosyncratic piece of blockbuster filmmaking: a mix of Pixar, revenge Westerns, and Apocalypse Now, told almost entirely from the point-of-view of a posse of gun-toting, super-evolved apes as they roam the snowy Sierra Nevada foothills of the post-apocalyptic future, accompanied by a mute human girl, and bear witness to the strange cruelty of man. July 7, 2017, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club
   Like many women whose relationships with their husbands have become dysfunctional, Diana used her elder son as both a stand-in and a buffer, toting him along for meetings with journalists. adapted from the book The Palace Papers, published 2022 by Penguin Books April 5 2022, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair
   The storm has passed when I arrive at Southampton Central, but more fun is to come. The station platforms and waiting rooms are crammed with people, many toting enormous amounts of baggage as they have just come off a cruise liner. November 16 2022, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55

Etymology 2

Short for total, with e to distinguish from tot in writing.

verb

1. To add up; to calculate a total.

Etymology 3

Short for totalizator.

noun

1. (Britain, Australia) A pari-mutuel machine; a totalizator.
   He was a humorist of note and keen at repartee, He laid the odds and kept a "tote", whatever that may be, 1892, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Ironbark
2. (Britain, Australia) Pari-mutuel betting.