Tom and Jerryism

English

Etymology

A reference to Pierce Egan's 1821 book Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom, or the subsequent stage play.

Noun

Tom and Jerryism (uncountable)

1. (dated) roistering; noisy drunken behaviour
   • 1823, Mammon in London; or, The spy of the day, page iv:

     […] we have no wish to seduce sundry steady bachelors into the charmed circle of Tom and Jerryism, to the astonishment of their smug landlords and prim landladies […]

   • 1844, George Lillie Craik, Charles MacFarlane, The Pictorial History of England, volume 8, page 723:

     The nuisance of Tom and Jerryism could not have gained even its ephemeral popularity but for this reason. That England at the close of the reign of George III. had much to learn in the philosophy of social intercourse […]

   • 1900, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men on the Bummel:

     I tried driving a hansom cab once. That has always been regarded as the acme of modern Tom and Jerryism. I stole it late one night from outside a public-house in Dean Street […]