But yesterday his breath Awed Rome, and his least torved frown was
death.
J. Webster (1654).
Tor"vi*ty (?), a. [L. torvitas. See Torvous.] Sourness or severity of
countenance; sterness. [Obs.]
Tor"vous (?), a. [L. torvus. ] Sour of aspect; of a severe countenance;
stern; grim. [Obs.]
That torvous, sour look produced by anger.
Derham.
To"ry (?), n.; pl. Tories (#). [ Properly used of the Irish bogtrotters
who robbed and plundered during the English civil wars, professing to
be in sympathy with the royal cause; hence transferred to those who
sought to maintain the extreme prerogatives of the crown; probably from
Ir. toiridhe, tor, a pursuer; akin to Ir. & Gael. toir a pursuit.] 1.
(Eng.Politics) A member of the conservative party, as opposed to the
progressive party which was formerly called the Whig, and is now called
the Liberal, party; an earnest supporter of exsisting 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. 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
submitting tothe claims of Great Britain against the colonies; an
adherent tothe crown.
To"ry (?), a. Of ro pertaining to the Tories.
To"ry*ism (?), n. The principles of the Tories.
To*scat"ter (?), v. t. [Pref. to- + scatter.] To scatter in pieces; to
divide. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Tose (?), v. t. [ See Touse ] To tease, or comb, as wool. [Obs.or Prov.
Eng.]
Tosh (?), a. [Cf. OF. tonce shorn, clipped, and E. tonsure.] Neat;
trim. [Scot.] Jomieson.
To*shred" (?), v. t. [Pref. to- + shred. ] To cut into shreads or
pieces. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Toss (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tossed (&?;); (less properly Tost ); p.
pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa
quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ] 1. To throw with the hand; especially,
to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as, to
toss a ball.
2. To lift or throw up with a sudden or violent motion; as, to toss the
head.
He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me, He would not stay.
Addison.
3. To cause to rise and fall; as, a ship tossed on the waves in a
storm.
We being exceedingly tossed with a tempeat.
Act xxvii. 18.