toe [OE] An Old English word recorded as early as ad 700. To toe the line [E19th], ‘to accept the authority or principles of a particular group’, derives from competitors placing their toes just touching the starting line at the beginning of a race. Vagrants without proper clothing have long used rags wrapped round their feet as socks. Since the mid 19th century such a piece of improvised footwear has been a toerag. The term transferred to the unfortunate wearer later in the century, and nowadays toerag is an insult for anyone considered worthless or contemptible.