Tory
(To"ry) n.; pl. Tories [ Properly used of the Irish bogtrotters who robbed and plundered during
the English civil wars, professing to be in sympathy with the royal cause; hence transferred to those who
sought to maintain the extreme prerogatives of the crown; probably from Ir. toiridhe, tor, a pursuer; akin
to Ir. & Gael. toir a pursuit.]
1. (Eng.Politics) A member of the conservative party, as opposed to the progressive party which was
formerly called the Whig, and is now called the Liberal, party; an earnest supporter of exsisting royal and
ecclesiastical authority.
The word Tory first occurs in English history in 1679, during the struggle in Parliament occasioned by
the introduction of the bill for the exclusion of the duke of York from the line of succession, and was
applied by the advocates of the bill to its opponents as a title of obloquy or contempt. The Tories subsequently
took a broader ground, and their leading principle became the maintenance of things as they were. The
name, however, has for several years ceased to designate an existing party, but is rather applied to
certain traditional maxims of public policy. The political successors of the Tories are now commonly
known as Conservatives. New Am. Cyc.
2. (Amer. Hist.) One who, in the time of the Revolution, favored submitting tothe claims of Great Britain
against the colonies; an adherent tothe crown.
Tory
(To"ry) a. Of ro pertaining to the Tories.
Toryism
(To"ry*ism) n. The principles of the Tories.
Toscatter
(To*scat"ter) v. t. [Pref. to- + scatter.] To scatter in pieces; to divide. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Tose
(Tose) v. t. [ See Touse ] To tease, or comb, as wool. [Obs.or Prov. Eng.]
Tosh
(Tosh) a. [Cf. OF. tonce shorn, clipped, and E. tonsure.] Neat; trim. [Scot.] Jomieson.
Toshred
(To*shred") v. t. [Pref. to- + shred. ] To cut into shreads or pieces. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Toss
(Toss) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tossed ; (less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] [ W. tosiaw,
tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ]
1. To throw with the hand; especially, to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as,
to toss a ball.
2. To lift or throw up with a sudden or violent motion; as, to toss the head.
He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me,
He would not stay.
Addison. 3. To cause to rise and fall; as, a ship tossed on the waves in a storm.
We being exceedingly tossed with a tempeat.
Act xxvii. 18. 4. To agitate; to make restless.
Calm region once,
And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.
Milton. 5. Hence, to try; to harass.
Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.
Herbert. 6. To keep in play; to tumble over; as, to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar. [Obs.] Ascham.
To toss off, to drink hastily. — To toss the cars.See under Oar, n.
