English
Etymology
Unknown; popularly (but falsely) believed to be an acronym for "port out, starboard home", describing the cabins given to upper-class passengers travelling with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company from Britain to India and back. The company denies this practice, despite christening its loyalty scheme the "P.O.S.H. Club" after the myth (the club has since been renamed "Portunus").
A more likely origin is the Romany word posh meaning "half-", as in posh-kooroona meaning "half a crown" - a once-substantial sum of money, and hence by association anything pricey or upper-class. Alternatively posh may have first become a general term for money, after posh-houri, half-penny.
See World Wide Words article on "posh" for other theories.
Pronunciation
audio|en-uk-posh.ogg|Audio (UK)
Adjective
en-adj|posher or more posh|poshest or most posh
- Associated with the upper classes.
#: She talks with a posh accent.
- Stylish, elegant, exclusive (expensive).
#: After the performance they went out to a very posh restaurant.
Quotations
1919: "Well, it ain't one of the classic events. It were run over there." Docker jerked a thumb vaguely in the direction of France. "At a 'Concours Hippique,' which is posh for 'Race Meeting.' — Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, June 18, 1919
Translations
trans-top|Associated with the upper classes
Finnish: yläluokkainen
trans-mid
trans-bottom
trans-top|Stylish, elegant, exclusive
Dutch: chic#Dutch|chic, bekakt (pejorative)
Finnish: tyylikäs, upea
trans-mid
French: chic#French|chic m|f, élégant m, élégante f
Spanish: pijo m, pija, f, elitista m|f
trans-bottom
Interjection
Posh!
- an exclamation expressing derision
Quotations
1889: "The czar! Posh! I slap my fingers--I snap my fingers at him." — Rudyard Kipling, ''The Man Who Was''
Category:Unknown etymology
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