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toffee-nosed

American  
[taw-fee-nohzd, tof-ee-] / ˈtɔ fiˌnoʊzd, ˈtɒf i- /

adjective

British Slang.
  1. stuck-up; conceited; pretentious.

    a toffee-nosed butler; a toffee-nosed shop.


toffee-nosed British  

adjective

  1. slang pretentious or supercilious; used esp of snobbish people

"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

Etymology

Origin of toffee-nosed

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Gold wrote not so much in sentences and paragraphs as in litanies: cascades of facts, of visual and tactile sensations, of wild references that ricocheted from the toffee-nosed to the profane.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 24, 2018

Yet this hard-nosed apprehension was Mr Coulson’s big contribution to the rather toffee-nosed Tory operation.

From Economist • Jun. 26, 2014

It's easy to imagine that the selectors are a bunch of toffee-nosed whatsits sitting in a room and pulling names out of a hat.

From The Guardian • Jun. 29, 2012

What they say: "Guitarist Freddie Cowan is so toffee-nosed he's 14th in line to the throne and gets carried to gigs on a sedan chair."

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2012

People posting comments on U.S. newspaper websites have called Hayward a "jerk" with a "toffee-nosed accent."

From Reuters • Jun. 1, 2010

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