Tory
noun
[ ˈtɔːri ]
• (in the UK) a member or supporter of the Conservative Party.
• "a poll showed the Tories thirteen points behind Labour"
• a colonist who supported the British side during the War of American Independence.
Tory
adjective
• relating to the British Conservative Party or its supporters.
• "the Tory party"
Origin:
mid 17th century: probably from Irish toraidhe ‘outlaw, highwayman’, from tóir ‘pursue’. The word was used of Irish peasants dispossessed by English settlers and living as robbers, and extended to other marauders especially in the Scottish Highlands. It was then adopted c. 1679 as an abusive nickname for supporters of the Catholic James II.
