What does toffee-nosed mean in british english?

Best Answer:

pretentious, snobbish, arrogant| Grammarist. | Idiom. Toffee-nosed means pretentious, snobbish, arrogant. Toffee-nosed is an English and Australian term, derived from the Victorian slang, toff, used by the lower classes to describe the upper classes.
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What does toffee-nosed mean in british english? – All you need to know

  • What does it mean to be toffee-nosed?

    toffee-nosed. adjective. slang, mainly British pretentious or supercilious; used esp of snobbish people.
  • What is a toffee in British slang?

    idiom UK informal. If you say that someone cannot do something for toffee, you mean that they are extremely bad at it: He can’t paint for toffee! Inability and awkwardness.
  • Where does the phrase for toffee come from?

    Of British-English origin, the phrase not to be able to [verb] for toffee means to be incompetent at performing the action denoted by the verb. The underlying notion is presumably of failing to win even the smallest prize
  • What is meant by la di da?

    Definition of la-di-da informal. : affectedly or pretentiously elegant or refined in manners or tastes ?
  • Why are posh people called toffee nosed?

    After taking their expensive snuff, wealthy people in the old days developed an unsightly brown drip from their noses which looked like toffee. Wealthy types of the 19th century were known as toffs, who turned up their “toff noses” at the lower classes.
  • Where does toffee nosed come from?

    Toffee-nosed is an English and Australian term, derived from the Victorian slang, toff, used by the lower classes to describe the upper classes. The word toff is a corruption of the term tuft, which was a gold tassel worn on an Oxford cap by the sons of those peers who had a vote in the House of Lords.
  • What does Lardy dardy mean?

    Definition of lardy-dardy

    slang. : languidly and affectedly dandyish ? compare la-di-da.

  • What does Latte Da mean?

    If you describe someone as la-di-da, you mean that they have an upper-class way of behaving, which you think seems unnatural and is only done to impress people.
  • Where did the saying La Di Da come from?

    ‘La-di-da’ sounds as though it may be of French origin. It has been taken up as Cockney Rhyming Slang for ‘cigar’ but that, of course, wasn’t the origin of the term, merely a usage of it. In fact, ‘la-di-da’ derives from the earlier reduplicated phrase ‘lardy-dardy’.
  • What is the meaning of Val?

    In Latin Baby Names the meaning of the name Val is: Valiant. Also a : Strong; healthy.
  • Is Gal a Scrabble word?

    GAL is a valid scrabble word.
  • Is Bal a Scrabble word?

    Yes, bal is a valid Scrabble word.
  • Is high falutin a real word?

    Highfalutin, meaning ?pretentious? or ?artificially elevated in style,? was first used in the early 19th century. It was primarily spoken slang, and when people wrote it down, they had to sound it out.

The most helpful answer about What does toffee-nosed mean in british english?

Meaning of toffee-nosed in English – Cambridge Dictionary

  • Summary: toffee-nosed Meaning of toffee-nosed in English toffee-nosedadjective UK informal disapprovingus Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio /ˈtɑː.fi.noʊzd/ uk Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio /ˈtɒf.i.nəʊzd/ He’s a toffee-nosed git – take no notice of him! SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases (Definition of toffee-nosed from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press) Examples of toffee-nosed toffee-nosed It was…
  • Rating: 1.1 ⭐
  • Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/toffee-nosed

The saying 'Toffee-nosed' – meaning and origin.

  • Summary: ‘Toffee-nosed’ – the meaning and origin of this phraseToffee-nosedWhat’s the meaning of the phrase ‘Toffee-nosed’?To be ‘toffee-nosed’ is to be snobbish; supercilious; stuck-up.What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Toffee-nosed’?Judging by the queries at this site’s Bulletin Board, the British expression ‘toffee-nosed’ isn’t familiar to everyone in the English-speaking world. Whenever it crops up in a BBC drama that is shown in the USA I get mail about it. For those…
  • Rating: 4.11 ⭐
  • Source: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/toffee-nosed.html

Toffee-nosed Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster

  • Summary: Definition of TOFFEE-NOSED tof·​fee-nosed | \ ˈtȯ-fē-ˈnōzd \ Definition of toffee-nosed First Known Use of toffee-nosed circa 1925, in the meaning defined above Learn More About toffee-nosed Statistics for toffee-nosed Cite this Entry “Toffee-nosed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toffee-nosed. Accessed 22 Sep. 2022. Test Your Vocabulary Challenging Words You Should Know Often used to describe “the march of time,” what does inexorable mean? Test your visual vocabulary with our…
  • Rating: 4.15 ⭐
  • Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toffee-nosed

Why are wealthy people known as “toffee-nosed”?

  • Summary: Why are wealthy people known as “toffee-nosed”?This was published 16 years agoAugust 19, 2006 — 10.00amHow did the flat ring with a hole in the middle, which is used to prevent leaks or distribute pressure, become known as a “washer”? The Dictionary of Etymology says the development of the meaning of a flat ring for sealing joints or holding nuts as a separate word has not been accounted…
  • Rating: 1.72 ⭐
  • Source: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/why-are-wealthy-people-known-as-toffee-nosed-20060819-gdo76y.html



Toffee-nosed Definition & Meaning – Dictionary.com

  • Summary: Definition of toffee-nosed | Dictionary.comTop Definitions Quiz Examples British This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.[ taw-fee-nohzd, tof-ee- ]/ ˈtɔ fiˌnoʊzd, ˈtɒf i- /This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.adjective British Slang.stuck-up; conceited; pretentious: a toffee-nosed butler; a toffee-nosed shop.QUIZSHALL WE PLAY A “SHALL” VS. “SHOULD” CHALLENGE?Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!Which…
  • Rating: 4.49 ⭐
  • Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/toffee-nosed

Toffee-nosed – World Wide Words

  • Summary: World Wide Words: Toffee-nosed Q From Brenda Ferner, UK: Someone from America asked me about toffee-nosed, and I found a couple of derivations on the Internet, but they were unsatisfactory. Can you help? A Americans don’t much know this slang term — its constituency is mainly Britain and Australia. It’s rude, describing a pretentiously superior, supercilious, snobbish…
  • Rating: 3.34 ⭐
  • Source: https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tof1.htm

'toffee-nosed': meaning and origin – word histories

  • Summary: ‘toffee-nosed’: meaning and origin In British English: – the colloquial noun toffee-nose designates a snob or supercilious person; – the colloquial adjective toffee-nosed means snobbish or supercilious. The reason the noun toffee is used in those two words is unclear. This noun perhaps refers in fact to the informal British-English noun toff, which was…
  • Rating: 2.5 ⭐
  • Source: https://wordhistories.net/2022/05/16/toffee-nose/

Origin of “toffee-nosed” – etymology – English Stack Exchange

  • Summary: Origin of “toffee-nosed” Although toffee-nosed was first recorded by the OED relatively recently: toffee-nosed adj. slang snobbish, supercilious. 1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 287 Toffee-nosed, stuck up. the OED can be used to form a plausible evolution of Toffee-nosed from tuft The etymology is interesting and has nothing to do with…
  • Rating: 4.33 ⭐
  • Source: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/41368/origin-of-toffee-nosed
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