I was watching a rerun of the Lucy Show, and Wally Cox was guest starring as Vivian’s cousin Wally. Wally was a concert musician and staying with Lucy and Viv
Anyway Lucy says, (in a mock posh voice) “Well I didn’t realize our company was so tony.”
And I Googled it and sure enough came up with:
Tony = Stylish, high-toned, upscale
I’ve never heard of this before? Have you? Where do you think the word comes from?
I’ve heard it used, I know what it means, but I never thought about where it comes from. Now I have to go look it up…
Of the “ton” - read enough Regency romances and you’ll know exactly where it comes from
I’ve heard it used, but know nothing of its origin.
And I always thought it was “toney.” As in, “high-toned,” or somesuch.
ETA: on-line dictionary shows tony and toney to be used interchangeably.
Before anybody starts thinking otherwise the Tony Award is named after a person and is not meant as an adjective.
Me too.
Perhaps it is toney not tony but if you look up in Google
[define: tony](define: Tony)
You can get this result on tony
Both spellings are acceptable, sayeth the OED and M-W.