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toff

[tof]
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noun British Informal.
  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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Origin of toff

First recorded in 1850–55; perhaps variant of tuft
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for toff

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • By now the mews had wakened to the fact of the presence of a "toff" in its midst.

    The Black Bag

    Louis Joseph Vance

  • I'm a poor man; I've got no money an' no friends—he 's a toff—he can do wot I can't.

  • The letter was from some toff, 'cause it come from Menzie's Hotel.

  • Toff, I don't believe you wanted to see your master's son and heir!

    Is He Popenjoy?

    Anthony Trollope

  • It must be held that the Marquis was justified in getting rid of Mrs. Toff.

    Is He Popenjoy?

    Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for toff

toff

noun
  1. British slang a rich, well-dressed, or upper-class person, esp a man
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Word Origin

C19: perhaps variant of tuft, nickname for a titled student at Oxford University, wearing a cap with a gold tassel
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 toff

n.

lower-class British slang for "stylish dresser, member of the smart set," 1851, said to be probably an alteration of tuft, formerly an Oxford University term for a nobleman or gentleman-commoner (1755), in reference to the gold ornamental tassel worn on the caps of undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge whose fathers were peers with votes in the House of Lords.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper