tiffany1
(ˈtɪfənɪ)
Also 7 tiffanie, -enay, -eney, -inie, -iny, tifine, tifnie, tiphany, 7–9 tiffeny, 9 tiffney.
[a. OF. tifinie (c 1200), tiphanie (with 40 variants in Godefroy, s.v. Tifaigne):—L. theophania, theophany, applied to the Epiphany (see Du Cange). Sense 2 appears to be English only, and to have arisen about 1600; it is usually taken to be short for ‘Epiphany silk’ or ‘muslin’; but as to the reason of the name no evidence has been found. (Perhaps it was a fanciful name, with allusion to the sense ‘manifestation’: see quots. 1601, 1645 in 2.)]
† 1. The festival of the Epiphany or Twelfth Day (Jan. 6). Obs. (Scarcely an English use.)
| [1292 Britton ii. xxi. §2 Del comencement del Advent jekes as utaves de la Tiphanie [v.rr. Tiphayne, Epiphanie; tr. from the beginning of Advent until the Octaves of the Epiphany]. 1323 in Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II 62 margin, Le jour de la Tyffayne.] a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 56 This is Twelfe day... But more anciently and most properly it was called the Epiphany... Our great grand Fathers..as the Legend sayes called it the Tiffany..we must know it signifies Apparition or Manifestation from above. |
2. A kind of thin transparent silk; also a transparent gauze muslin, cobweb lawn: see also quots. 1882.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xi. xxii. I. 323 The invention of that fine silke, Tiffanie, Sarcenet, and Cypres, which instead of apparell to cover and hide, shew women naked through them. 1611 Cotgr., Gaze,..also (the sleight stuffe) Tiffanie. a 1625 Fletcher Noble Gent. i. i, Let her haue Veluets, Tiffinies, Jewels, Pearls. 1645 Evelyn Diary June, [Venetian ladies], their sleeves.., shewing their naked armes, thro' false sleeves of tiffany. 1671 Skinner Etymol., Tiffeny, Sericum tenuissimum & mollissimum. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 64 Silken Vail, as thin as Tiphany. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2001/4, 33 Yards of Black Tiffeney for Mourning Scarves. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., The table-cloth and napkins..were all tiffany, embroidered with silk and gold. 1788 Mrs. Sherwood in Life (1847) v. 63 A shepherdess's hat, of pale blue silver tiffany. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 325 Good clear isinglass..tied up in a piece of thin tiffany. 1882 Beck Draper's Dict., Tiffany..a kind of transparent gauze stiffened with gum, still produced for employment in the production of artificial flowers. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Tiffany, a thin description of semi-transparent silk textile, resembling gauze. Ibid., Tiffeny, a description of muslin, of open make,..employed for Needle Embroidery. |
b. An article made of tiffany, as a head-dress, a garment, a sieve, etc.
| 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xvi. ci. (1612) 400 Fannes, Tifnies, Maskes, Bongraces. c 1620 T. Robinson Mary Magd. i. 423 A tiffany shee wore about her head, Hanginge submissely to her shoulders white. 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Tiffany, a fine gauze sieve, for separating fine flour. 1882 J. Lucas Stud. Nidderdale 15 Flour..separated from the bran by being worked through a hair-sieve tiffany, or temse. |
c. fig.
| a 1624 Bp. M. Smith Serm. (1632) 132 Put on the silke of honesty, the tiffiny (as it were) of sanctimony, and the purple of chastity. 1650 B. Discolliminium 36 As a wel-wrought piece of tiffany or sophistry, but not as a sound Logicall or Theologicall Webbe. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶250 From the Tiffany and thinner dresse of a vapour. 1829 T. Hook Bank to Barnes 86 The trumpery tiffany of drawing-room tittle-tattle. |
d. attrib. or as adj. Made of or resembling tiffany; fig. ‘transparent’, flimsy. e. Comb. as tiffany-trader.
| 1608 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. ii. i. Wks. 1873 II. 119 As arrant a whore as euer stiffned tiffany neckcloathes in water-starch. 1626 Faithf. Friends i. ii, This tiffany-trader wants customers. 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 48 It's a tiffany plot; any man with half an eye may easily see through it. 1664 H. Power Exp. Philos. i. 30 Another pair of filmy Tiffany long wings, like those of Flyes. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria (1729) 174 Stamp it as small as to pass thro' a fine Tiffany Sieve. 1703 S. Centlivre Beau's Duel ii. ii, Whose tiffany natures are so easily impos'd upon. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. New-Y.'s coming of age, Twelfth Day..came in a tiffany suit, white and gold. |