Naut. slang. [Contraction of ARTIFICER.] An engine-room artificer.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Way Navy, 34. My life-long admiration for the blue-jacket proper will be shared by his brothers in arms, the stoker and engine-room artificer (‘tiffy’ as we call him).
1904. Kipling, Traffics & Discov., 57. Those dirty engine-room objects which we call ‘tiffies.’
