posh
Plural: poshes
Adjective Satellite
- elegant and fashionable; ; ; ; - Julia Child
- "a posh restaurant"
Adj
- Associated with the upper classes.
- Stylish; elegant; exclusive; luxurious; expensive.
- Snobbish, materialistic, prejudiced, under the illusion that one is better than everyone else.
Intj
- An exclamation expressing derision.
Noun
- fragments produced by an impact
- slush
- A halfpenny or other coin of little value.
- Money.
Verb
- To make posh, or posher.
Adjective
- Elegant, luxurious, or stylishly upper-class.
Examples
- After the performance, they went out to a very posh restaurant.
- His collection of antique Scrabble boards was quite posh, certainly not for casual play.
- She talks with a posh accent.
- We have a right posh git moving in next door.
Origin / Etymology
Unknown.
Most likely derived from Romani posh (“half”), either because posh-kooroona (“half a crown”) (originally a substantial sum of money) was used metaphorically for anything pricey or upper-class, or because posh-houri (“half-penny”) came to refer to money generally.
A period slang dictionary defines "posh" as a term used by thieves for "money : generic, but specifically, a halfpenny or other small coin". An example is given from James Payn's The Eavesdropper (1888): "They used such funny terms: 'brads,' and 'dibbs,' and 'mopusses,' and 'posh' ... at last it was borne in upon me that they were talking about money."
Evidence exists for a slang sense from the 1890s meaning dandy, which is quite possibly related.
A popular folk etymology holds that the term is an acronym for "port out, starboard home", describing the cooler, north-facing cabins taken by the most aristocratic or rich passengers travelling from Britain to India and back. However, there is no evidence for this claim.
It could also possibly be a clipping of polished.
See also the articles mentioned in the References section below for additional discussion.
Scrabble Score: 9
posh: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordposh: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
posh: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary