something serving to represent or indicate some fact, event, feeling, etc.; sign:Black is a token of mourning.
a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof:Malnutrition is a token of poverty.
a memento; souvenir; keepsake:The seashell was a token of their trip.
something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge:Judicial robes are a token of office.
CurrencyAlso called to′ken coin′. a stamped piece of metal, issued as a limited medium of exchange, as for bus fares, at a nominal value much greater than its commodity value.
anything of only nominal value similarly used, as paper currency.
an item, idea, person, etc., representing a group; a part as representing the whole; sample; indication.
Linguistics, Philosophy[Logic, Ling.]a particular instance of a word, symbol, expression, sentence, or the like:A printed page might have twenty tokens of the single type-word "and.''Cf. type (def. 8).
by the same token:
in proof of which.
moreover; furthermore:She has a talent as a painter, and by the same token has a sharp eye for detail.
in token of, as a sign of; in evidence of:a ring in token of his love.
v.t.
to be a token of; signify; symbolize.
adj.
serving as a token:a token gift; a token male on an all-female staff.
slight; perfunctory; minimal:token resistance.
bef. 900; Middle English; Old English tāc(e)n; cognate with German Zeichen, Old Norse teikn sign, mark. See teach
12.See corresponding entry in Unabridged symbolic.