Tō'ry1, n.
n. [Said to be an Irish word, denoting a robber or a savage, or from toree, give me (sc. your money). Cf. Ir. & Gael. toir, a pursuit, pursuers, and toir, thoir, tabhair, thabhair, to give, give thou.] 1. (Eng. Politics.) A member of the conservative party, as opposed to the whig or progressive party; an earnest supporter of royal and ecclesiastical authority. ☞ The word tory first occurs in English history in 1679, during the struggle in Parliament occasioned by the introduction of the bill for the exclusion of the duke of York from the line of succession, and was applied by the advocates of the bill to its opponents as a title of obloquy or contempt. The tories subsequently took a broader ground, and their leading principle became the maintenance of things as they were. The name, however, has for several years ceased to designate an existing party, but is rather applied to certain traditional maxims of public policy; and the political successors of the tories are now commonly known as Conservatives.” New Am. Cyc. 2. (Amer. Hist.) One who, in the time of the Revolution, favored the claims of Great Britain against the colonies; an adherent to the crown.