toff

{{Short description|British stereotype of snobby aristocrat}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}

{{Wiktionary}}

{{For|the television personality|Georgia Toffolo}}

In British English slang, a toff is a stereotype for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the landed gentry, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority.{{CN|date=January 2016}} For instance, the Toff, a character from the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, is an upper class crime sleuth who uses a common caricature of a toff – a line drawing with a top hat, monocle, bow-tie and cigarette with a holder – as his calling card.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XoHGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |last=Creasey |first=John |title=The Toff on Fire |date=22 April 2014 |access-date=4 April 2019 |via=Google Books |publisher=House of Stratus |isbn=9780755146390 |page=101 |quote=On the other [side of the Toff's calling card], in pencil, was a sketch of a faceless man – a top hat, a monocle, a dot for one eye, a cigarette jutting from a holder, and beneath all this a neat bow tie.}}

The word "toff" is thought to come from the word "tuft", which was a gold tassel worn by titled undergraduates at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge.Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford 1969{{cite web|title=toff|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=toff|publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary}}{{cite web|title=toff|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/toff|publisher=The Free Dictionary}}{{cite web|title=toff|url=http://www.wordreference.com/definition/toff|publisher=WordReference.com}}{{cite web|title=toff|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/toff|publisher=Dictionary.com}} The Old English word "toforan" has a meaning of "superiority".Albert Jack. (2011.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=CcsCBrxNXZQC&pg=PT151 It's a Wonderful Word: The Real Origins of Our Favourite Words], Random House, p. 151.

Ian Kelly's book, Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy, page 159, says it derives from the brown liquid that dripped from an upper class gentleman's nose after taking snuff (as in the adjective "toffee-nosed").{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Ian |title=Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style |date=23 July 2013 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-3198-2 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0bihH_cbTgC |language=en}}

Hoorah Henry has a similar meaning.{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KT-cAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 |title=Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang |chapter=Thematic Index |first1=John |last1=Ayto |first2=John |last2=Simpson |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199232055 |page=377 |date=2010-02-11 |access-date=2019-12-04 |via=Google Books}}