plural Tories
1
b
: 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
2
: an American upholding the cause of the British Crown against the supporters of colonial independence during the American Revolution : loyalist
3
often not capitalized
: an extreme conservative especially in political and economic principles
4
: a dispossessed Irishman subsisting as an outlaw chiefly in the 17th century
Tory
adjective
Synonyms
Dictionary Entries Near Tory
Cite this Entry
“Tory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Tory. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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Tory
noun
To·ry
ˈtōr-ē 
ˈtȯr-
plural Tories
2
: an American on the side of the British during the American Revolution
Tory
adjective
Etymology
from tóraidhe, a word in Irish Gaelic, the original language of Ireland, meaning "robber, pursued man"
Word Origin
In the 17th century, many of the Irish had their property taken from them by the English. Some of them lived by plundering English settlements and robbing English soldiers. Such an outlaw was called a tóraidhe in Irish Gaelic. This word literally meant "one who is pursued" and "robber." Later, this term was also applied to an armed Irish supporter of the Roman Catholic faith. In English the word was shortened to Tory and was used for a member of the conservative political party in England. Tories strongly supported the authority of the monarch. During the American Revolution, the term Tory was used for an American who supported British authority rather than independence.
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