/toh"keuhn/ , n.
1. something serving to represent or indicate some fact, event, feeling, etc.; sign: Black is a token of mourning.
2. a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof: Malnutrition is a token of poverty.
3. a memento; souvenir; keepsake: The seashell was a token of their trip.
4. something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge: Judicial robes are a token of office.
5. Also called token 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.
6. anything of only nominal value similarly used, as paper currency.
7. an item, idea, person, etc., representing a group; a part as representing the whole; sample; indication.
8. 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).
9. by the same token ,
a. in proof of which.
b. moreover; furthermore: She has a talent as a painter, and by the same token has a sharp eye for detail.
10. in token of , as a sign of; in evidence of: a ring in token of his love.
v.t.
11. to be a token of; signify; symbolize.
adj.
12. serving as a token: a token gift; a token male on an all-female staff.
13. slight; perfunctory; minimal: token resistance.
[ bef. 900; ME; OE tac ( e ) n; c. G Zeichen, ON teikn sign, mark. See TEACH ]
Syn. 12. symbolic.