tuftaffeta, -taffety Obs. or arch.
(tʌfˈtæfətə, -ˈtæfətɪ)
Forms (with hyphen, or as one word, or as two words): 6– 7 tuft-, tufte-; 6–9 tuf-, 7 tuffe-, 7–8 tuff-, (8 ? tiff-): see taffeta, taffety.
[f. tuff, tuft n. + taffeta, taffety.]
1. A kind of taffeta with a pile or nap arranged in tufts.
| 1572 in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911) 422 For vi yardes of tufte taffyta at xij s. the yarde. 1593 Donne Sat. iv. 33 His Ierkin..had been Velvet, but 'twas now (so much ground was seen) Become tufftaffaty. 1635 T. Cranley Amanda 76 What shall I doe with rich Tuftafaties? 1735 Pope Donne's Sat. iv. 42 The suit..Was velvet in the youth of good queen Bess, But mere tuff-taffety what now remain'd. 1899 M. Johnston By Order of Company iii, He..hitched forward his cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air. |
2. transf. A person wearing tuftaffeta.
| 1613 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb v. i, Such an old Tuff-taffity that knows not. |
3. attrib. a. Made of tuftaffeta.
| 1587 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) III. 34 My blacke tuf⁓tafata hosen. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle E iij b, Any coacht veluet cappe or tuftaffety iacket. c 1618 Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 96, I did see her apparelled once in a Tuft taffety gowne and an other tyme in a purple Taffety gowne. 1629 B. Jonson New Inn ii. i, I'll help to fit her With a tuft-taffeta cloak. |
b. Clothed in tuftaffeta; luxuriously dressed; hence fig. Cf. taffeta B. 2.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 49, I smile at thy Atturneys silken pride, Tufttaffeta state. 1612 Proc. Virginia ii. 13 in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 97 We daily feasted with..fish, fowle, and diverse sorts of wild beasts as fat as we could eat them: so that none of our Tuftaffaty humorists desired to goe for England. 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair iv. iii, Such as you are..with your tuft-taffata hanches. [1829 H. Murray N. Amer. I. iv. 212 A plot which had arisen among what he [Smith] oddly calls the ‘tuftaffety’ part of the colony, to break up and return to England.] |
c. tuftaffeta cream: a very soft or smooth kind of cream; velvet cream.
| 1661 H. Woolley Ladies Direct 98 To make the Tuff-Taffete Cream. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. i, A shaking pudding, and a dish of tiff—taff—taffety cream. Hast. Confound your made dishes. |