toff

American  

[tof] / tɒf /

noun

British Informal.

• toffs
  plural

1. a stylishly dressed, fashionable person, especially one who is or wants to be considered a member of the upper class.

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toff British  

/ tɒf /

noun

1. slang a rich, well-dressed, or upper-class person, esp a man

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• toffs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of toff

First recorded in 1850–55; perhaps variant of tuft

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

toff toffs

One minute he’d be talking like a toff, and the next like a cop.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2022

A lot of thought seems to have gone into Johnson’s self-presentation as someone indifferent to appearances — a toff but with scuffed shoes familiar with the grass roots.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2022

Citibank internship led to Deutsche Bank job, and after a few years she was an equity derivatives trader at Deutsche, holding her own against the toff sharks of the City of London.

From The Verge ● May 12, 2021

John is still into Bulgaria and piano-playing, has survived a nasty fall from a horse, and resents having been typecast as a Tory toff.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 27, 2019

That spirit alarmed and discomfited many Europeans, toff and peasant alike.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The setting is an absurdly palatial Italianate hotel — a perfect Depression-era fantasy — with a soundstage canal and extras swanked up like toffs.

From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2020

One of the most successful efforts mounted by Grinnell and his fellow toffs was stopping the widespread slaughter of birds so that their feathers could adorn women’s hats.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2019

Joan Crawford plays a cabaret singer set up to pose as an aristocrat by two scheming toffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2018

He apparently regards that status with just as much horror as do the toffs of his fevered imagination.

From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2017

We might even wind up having tea and cakes at the Savoy Cafe with the nobs and toffs of Limerick.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

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