toy [LME] A toy was originally a funny story or remark, and later a prank, trick, or frivolous entertainment. The usual modern sense, of an object for a child to play with, dates from the late 16th century. Older women had taken up with younger men before the 1980s, but it took until then for the rhyming toy boy to appear. The origin of toy, like that of *boy, is medieval but otherwise unknown.