tony
adj/ˈtəʊni/
Etymology From tone + -y.
- “He’d scorn it. You heard what he said to-night,” answered Ben. “Never mind that. He’s got tony notions, but he isn’t a pamby, for all his talk.[…]”1890 March 29, Vi Van Duzen, “The Strike of the Q. Q.’s”, in Lucy Stone, H[enry] B[rowne] Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, editors, The Woman’s Journal, volume XXI, number 13, Boston, Mass., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 103, column 1:
- "No ladies or any of your tony friends?"1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
4 more examples
- He bought it for a song in 1984 compared with what his fellow financiers were spending on tonier Park and Fifth Avenues.2013 August 16, Robin Finn, “A Former Madoff Penthouse Goes Back on the Market”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Meanwhile, on another plane entirely, “Another Period” (Comedy Central, recently renewed for Season 2) is a send-up of crunchy-gravel dramas, set in tony Rhode Island in 1902.2015 October 1, Hank Stuever, “In the hunt for a new favorite show, 'when' might be as crucial as 'what'”, in Washington Post:
- My host gained national notoriety after her high-profile arrest in 1993 on charges connected with running L.A.'s toniest prostitution ring.2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:
- The meaty and more familiar parts of Anna’s story — passing as a German heiress, ripping off tony hotels, brazenly exploiting narcissistic machers and star-struck working women — are told in flashback as Vivian reports her article.2022 February 10, Mike Hale, “‘Inventing Anna’ Review: The SoHo Scammer, Explained at Length”, in The New York Times, →ISSN: