Dictionary

tonish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɒnɪʃ/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From ton + -ish.

Meanings

1. (archaic) Conforming to the "ton"; modish, stylish.
   • [H]is nephew, Rose, whose trite, settled, tonish emptiness of Discourse is a never failing source of Laughter and diversion. 1779, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 129:
   • She saw that his conversation, and his shoe-buckles, his manners, and his toupee, were all perfectly tonish; gems of the first water, in the regalia of fashion; and thought that, upon the whole, he was a husband that would do her credit. 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge, published 2016, page 138:
   • […] those who […] have an inclination to give their sons, their daughters, and their servants, a tonish finish to their educations, may sin in haste and repent at leisure by passing a season at Bath. 1801-1802, Charles Dibdin, Observations on a Tour Through Almost the Whole of England […]
   • I was engaged to dine in St Albans Street to meet my favourite Miss Cecilia Forrest, Mr and Mrs Broadhead, the Duke of Hamilton, Sir Watts Horton, and other tonish friends of my eldest sister's. 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 265

Forms

Deriveds

tonishly · tonishness