taffy

[taf-ee]

noun

a chewy candy made of sugar or molasses boiled down, often with butter, nuts, etc.

Informal. flattery.

Also toffee, toffy.

Origin of taffy

First recorded in 1810–20; variant of toffee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for taffy

Contemporary Examples of taffy

I made a painting of the scene with Katy licking an ice cream cone in a taffy forest.
Artist Will Cotton Talks Katy Perry
Isabel Wilkinson
February 6, 2011
Taffy Brodesser-Akner has written for the Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Self, among other publications.
Confessions of a 90210 Addict
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
March 8, 2010
Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a devotee of 90210, Gossip Girl, and One Tree Hill, searches for answers.
Confessions of a 90210 Addict
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
March 8, 2010
Taffy Brodesser-Akner has written for the Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Babble, among other publications.
Who's Killing the Soaps?
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
December 14, 2009
Erin Wasson speaks with a slow, gravelly drawl, chewing on her words like sticky pieces of taffy.
The Anti-Supermodel
Rachel Syme
March 11, 2009

Historical Examples of taffy

Taffy was not used to such toil, and his muscles were soon weary.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis
"For Hapsie is not harmed by taffy as Laura is," Bob thought admiringly.
Six Girls and the Tea Room
Marion Ames Taggart
He is quite the least conceited art-duffer I ever met—and I have met many far worse duffers than Taffy.
Trilby
George Du Maurier
Next he handed each child a piece of taffy, and waited while it was adjusted in the cheek.
The Watchers of the Plains
Ridgewell Cullum
Taffy unlocked the door and held it half open while he listened.
Scribner's Magazine, Volume 26, July 1899
Various

British Dictionary definitions for taffy

taffy

noun plural -fies

US and Canadian a chewy sweet made of brown sugar or molasses and butter, boiled and then pulled so that it becomes glossy

mainly US and Canadian a less common term for toffee

Word Origin for taffy

C19: perhaps from tafia

Taffy

noun plural -fies

a slang word or nickname for a Welshman

Word Origin for Taffy

C17: from the supposed Welsh pronunciation of Davy (from David, Welsh Dafydd), a common Welsh Christian name

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for taffy

candy made from sugar or molasses, 1817, related to toffee, but of uncertain origin; perhaps associated with tafia (1763), a rum-like alcoholic liquor distilled from molasses, presumably of W.Indian or Malay origin (perhaps a Creole shortening of ratafia). On this theory, the candy would have been made from the syrup skimmed off the liquor during distillation.

Taffy

characteristic name of a Welshman, c.1700, from Teifi, Welsh corruption of David (q.v.).