Main Entry:

To·ry

Pronunciation:

\ˈtȯr-ē\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural Tories

Etymology:

Irish tóraidhe outlaw, robber, from Middle Irish tóir pursuit

Date:

1646

1: a dispossessed Irishman subsisting as an outlaw chiefly in the 17th century2obsolete : bandit, outlaw3 a: a member or supporter of a major British political group of the 18th and early 19th centuries favoring at first the Stuarts and later royal authority and the established church and seeking to preserve the traditional political structure and defeat parliamentary reform — compare whig b: conservative 1b4: an American upholding the cause of the British Crown against the supporters of colonial independence during the American Revolution : loyalist5often not capitalized : an extreme conservative especially in political and economic principles

— Tory adjective