Tory

To·ry

noun \ˈtȯr-ē\

plural Tories

Definition of TORY

1

: a dispossessed Irishman subsisting as an outlaw chiefly in the 17th century

2

obsolete : bandit, outlaw

3

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 1b

4

: an American upholding the cause of the British Crown against the supporters of colonial independence during the American Revolution : loyalist

5

often not capitalized : an extreme conservative especially in political and economic principles

— Tory adjective

Examples of TORY

1. <a small-town Tory who saw that society was changing, much to his regret>

Origin of TORY

Irish tóraidhe outlaw, robber, from Middle Irish tóir pursuit

First Known Use: 1646

Related to TORY

Synonyms

archconservative, paleoconservative, reactionary, rightist, right-winger, conservative, traditionalist

Antonyms

leftist, left-winger, lefty, liberal, progressive

Related Words

right, right-wing; conformist; neocon, neoconservative; diehard, standpatter; bourbon, Colonel Blimp, fuddy-duddy, square, stuffed shirt

Near Antonyms

extremist, radical, red, revolutionary, revolutionist; reformer, reformist

Other History Terms

agonistic, carpetbagger, enceinte, fief, historiography, paladin

Rhymes with TORY

Corey, corrie, dory, glory, Gorey, gory, hoary, lorry, lory, nori, quarry, saury, story, zori

Tory

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Member of a political group in England, especially in the 18th century. Originally an Irish term for an outlaw, the name was applied as a term of abuse to those who supported the hereditary right of James, the Catholic duke of York (later James II), to succeed to the throne of England. They were opposed by the Whigs in that struggle (1679), but the Tories later modified their doctrine of divine-right absolutism. They came to represent the resistance, mainly by the country gentry, to religious toleration and foreign entanglements. The Tories' political power diminished after Viscount Bolingbroke, a leading Tory, fled to France in 1715; Tory sentiment subsequently survived in the unsuccessful Jacobite movement. After 1784, William Pitt the Younger emerged as the leader of a new Tory party, representing the country gentry, merchants, and administrators. After 1815, the party gradually evolved into the Conservative Party, whose members are still referred to as Tories.