What does "toby" mean, in London slang of Orwell's time?

Question

In the George Orwell poem ["A Dressed Man and a Naked Man"](https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/poetry/a-dressed-man-and-a-naked-man/), two men are haggling for the clothes of one of them (the other is naked). After a little research into the [pounds/shillings/pence system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd) for the terms I'd forgotten, I figured out the amounts they were proposing: "Ten bob" is 10 shillings, "One dollar" is 5 shillings, "Eight and a tanner" is 8.5 shillings, "Take seven" means 7 shillings, and "One tanner more" makes 7.5 shillings. The only thing left to understand is the verb "*toby*", which appears twice in the poem: > [‘]Turnips, apples, hops and peas, And the spike when times are slack, Fifty years I’ve tobied it For these clothes upon my back.’ > [...] > [‘]Now pull my shirt over my head, I’m naked sole to crown, And that’s the end of fifty years Tobying up and down.’ **What does the slang verb "toby" mean?** Does it refer to some kind of low-paid work, perhaps? I tried searching online for this, but couldn't find any answer that fits.

Answer 1

A "toby," in 19th-early-20th C. English slang, is a person who is sort of a layabout -- lazy, but not an abject bum. Orwell is being playful with language, turning the noun "toby" into the verb (tobied, tobying) to describe his life-long work habits as being lackadaisical, uninspired, doing the least amount of work to get by. It is as if someone today said: "I Homer Simpsoned my way through work."