subs. (common).—1. A gentleman, a fop, a SWELL (q.v.): cf. TOFT and TUFT; (2) = a superior, a man of grit. Hence TOFFER = a fashionable whore; TOFFICKY = dressy, showy, GRITTY (q.v.): TOFFISHNESS = SIDE (q.v.).
c. 1868. ARTHUR LLOYD, Music Hall Song, ‘The Shoreditch TOFF’ [Title].
1868. Temple Bar, xxiv. 538. 9. Moll … a flashtail … who goes about the streets at night trying to pick up TOFFS.
1873. GREENWOOD, In Strange Company, 43. Slices … under an inch thick would be regarded with contempt … perhaps with an uncomfortable suspicion … [of] the detestable ways of gentility. He [a coster] calls it ‘TOFFISHNESS.’
1879. Punch, 3 May, 201. 1, ‘’Arry on Crutches.’
| I suppose if the TOFFS took a fancy for chewing a stror or a twig … | |
| Pall Mall would be jolly soon gay. |
1883. G. A. SALA [Illustrated London News, 21 April, 379, 2]. Fops flourished before my time, but I can remember the dandy, who was superseded by the count, the TOFF, and other varieties of the swell.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 83. (Loud cheers, and a voice, ‘Gladstone’s an old TOFF’).
1899. H. WYNDHAM, The Queen’s Service, 248. Such appellations as ‘TOFF Smith’ or ‘Dandy Jones.’
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, xxviii. You ’re a TOFF, stone-broke—that ’s what you are … I ain’t no class for you. I never can be.
1901. W. S. WALKER, In the Blood, 27. ‘I’ve lived here for six weeks like a TOFF, old man,’ said Jack Oswald.
1902. Daily Telegraph, 16 Sept., 5. 4. He held out his wrists to be handcuffed, and exclaimed, ‘Now I’ll die like a TOFF.’ Ibid. (1903), 10 Feb., 6. 4. Over six thousand of us, I mean genuine out-of-works. Of course, there’ll be loafers … and supposing the TOFFS of Pall-mall come along, welcome to them.
