toffee-nosed

[ taw-fee-nohzd, tof-ee- ]

adjective

, British Slang.

1. stuck-up; conceited; pretentious:

   a toffee-nosed butler; a toffee-nosed shop.

toffee-nosed

adjective

1. slang.
   pretentious or supercilious; used esp of snobbish people

Word History and Origins

Origin of toffee-nosed¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Word History and Origins

Origin of toffee-nosed¹

C20: perhaps coined as a pun on toffy stylish, grand: see toff

Example Sentences

To be sure, the toffee-nosed Brits love nothing more than preserving their own delusional sense of self-worth by sneering at the arriviste powers.

From The Guardian

Gold wrote not so much in sentences and paragraphs as in litanies: cascades of facts, of visual and tactile sensations, of wild references that ricocheted from the toffee-nosed to the profane.

From The New Yorker

Yet this hard-nosed apprehension was Mr Coulson’s big contribution to the rather toffee-nosed Tory operation.

From Economist

And let's not get all supercilious and toffee-nosed here about horsemeat, for, as it turns out, it's probably formed a significant part of our diet for the past decade.

From The Guardian

Some toffee-nosed commentators poured scorn on this decision, claiming that an actor would not have the right credentials to present an arts programme on TV.

From The Guardian