posh

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Elegant, luxurious, and often expensive.

   They had dinner at a posh restaurant downtown.

2. 2
   adj

   Associated with the upper classes; upper-class in manner or speech.

   She speaks with a posh accent.

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…

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