in the 17th cent., any of the dispossessed Irish who became outlaws, killed English settlers and soldiers, and lived by plundering
later, an armed Irish Catholic or Royalist
in 1679-1680, a person who opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York, from succession to the English throne
after 1689, a member of one of the two major political parties of England: opposed to Whig, and later, to Liberal, Radical, Laborite; changed officially c. 1830 to Conservative
in the American Revolution, a person who advocated or actively supported continued allegiance to Great Britain
any extreme conservative; reactionary
adjective
of, being, or having the conservative principles of a Tory
a. A member of a British political party, founded in 1689, that was the opposition party to the Whigs and has been known as the Conservative Party since about 1832.
b. A member of a Conservative Party, as in Canada.
An American who, during the period of the American Revolution, favored the British side. Also called Loyalist.
often tory A supporter of traditional political and social institutions against the forces of democratization or reform; a political conservative.