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posh: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com

  • ️Wed Jul 01 2015

Dictionary:

posh

  

(pŏsh) pronunciation

adj., posh·er, posh·est.

Smart and fashionable. See synonyms at fashionable.

[Perhaps posh, halfpenny, money, dandy, from Romany påšh.]

poshly posh'ly adv.
poshness posh'ness n.

WORD HISTORY   “Oh yes, Mater, we had a posh time of it down there.” So in Punch for September 25, 1918, do we find the first recorded instance posh, meaning “smart and fashionable.” A popular theory holds that it is derived from the initials of “Port Out, Starboard Home,” the cooler, and thus more expensive, side of ships traveling between England and India in the mid-19th century. The acronym POSH was supposedly stamped on the tickets of first-class passengers traveling on that side of ships owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. No known evidence supports this theory, however. Another word posh was 19th- and early 20th-century British slang for “money,” specifically “a halfpenny, cash of small value.” This word is borrowed from the Romany word påšh, “half,” which was used in combinations such as påšhera, “halfpenny.” Posh, also meaning “a dandy,” is recorded in two dictionaries of slang, published in 1890 and 1902, although this particular posh may be still another word. This word or these words are, however, much more likely to be the source of posh than “Port Out, Starboard Home,” although the latter source certainly has caught the public's etymological fancy.


This article is about the adjective. For other uses, see Posh (disambiguation). For the acronym, see POSH. For the British singer nicknamed "Posh Spice", see Victoria Beckham.

Posh is an adjective, with a dictionary meaning of "smart or fashionable[1]", "elegant, stylishly luxurious[2]", "spruced up, smart or polished[3]". In the British Isles it often refers to people who speak according to received pronunciation, or with a "public school" accent.

Common usage

In American English, "posh" is usually used to describe luxury objects; the interior of a Rolls-Royce, for example, might be called posh. In British English, the same meaning for objects and styles holds, but people can also be posh (although not "a posh" as in the original usage), by which it is meant that they display both wealth and "upper class" tastes. Sometimes, there is some implication of ostentation or snobbery in such a description, and it is usually used in a derogatory fashion.

Etymology

The origin of the word is obscure. The first recorded use of the word was in the British satirical magazine Punch on 25 September 1918, although an earlier possible reference uses the word push [4]. The OED records a definition of the word as a noun from 1890, meaning "a dandy".

A popular but false etymology states the expression originated from the phrase "Port Out, Starboard Home", which, before air-conditioning, were allegedly the most desirable cabin locations on ships travelling to and from British colonies in the Far East because they were shaded from the sun in both directions. However, extensive searching of shipping company records and tickets from that period has failed to reveal any evidence for explicit "Port Outbound, Starboard Home" reservations. [1][2][4]

This false etymology is illustrated by a song in the musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The song "P.O.S.H." includes the lyrics:

"Whenever I'm bored I travel abroad but ever so properly
Port out, starboard home, posh with a capital P-O-S-H, posh."

English Football Club

Posh is also the nickname of the Peterborough United Football Club. It was reportedly[attribution needed] first used in the 1920s when the then manager said he was getting some posh players to create a posh team for the city. Another theory[citation needed] is that the pub next door to the stadium is called the "Port Out Starboard Home", and hence this is where the name originated.

Plain Old Semantic HTML

Web developers use the acronym "posh" to refer to "Plain Old Semantic HTML". The microformats community has been using the term POSH to further evangelize the concept of Semantic HTML.

References

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - flot, lækker
adv. - flot, lækkert
n. - det at være flot og elegant
int. - ad!

Nederlands (Dutch)
luxueus, elegant

Français (French)
adj. - snob (péj), de riches, de rupins, sélect, bien, comme il faut, distingué, chic
adv. - de la haute
n. - gens de la haute (fam)
int. - peuh (excl) (de mépris ou de dégoût)

idioms:

  • posh up    (GB) être tiré à quatre épingles, être briqué (un appartement)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - vornehm, nobel
adv. - vornehm, nobel
int. - Verachtung oder Abscheu ausdrückend
n. - Eleganz

idioms:

  • posh up    putzen und polieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - πλούσιος, πολυτελής, σικ, στιλάτος, της ανώτερης κοινωνικής τάξης, αριστοκρατικός (κν. κυριλέ)
adv. - αριστοκρατικά
int. - πφ! (έκφραση αηδίας)

Italiano (Italian)
elegante, snob, di lusso

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - caro, requintado
adv. - requintadamente, dispendiosamente
int. - bacana

Русский (Russian)
роскошный, элегантный, роскошно, элегантно

Español (Spanish)
adj. - elegante, distinguido, cursi, tono afectado
adv. - elegantemente, en forma distinguida
n. - elegancia, refinamiento
int. - exclamación de disgusto o desprecio

idioms:

  • posh up    refinar o hacer distinguido

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - flott, lyxig
adv. - flott, uppiffad
int. - äh! föraktfull fnysning

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
漂亮的, 第一流的, 优雅的, 漂亮地, 时髦地, 优雅的事物

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 漂亮的, 第一流的, 優雅的
adv. - 漂亮地, 時髦地
n. - 優雅的事物

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - (호텔 등) 호화로운 , (목장 등) 우아한
adv. - 상류계급의 방식으로
n. - 건방진 태도나 말
int. - 체! (경멸, 혐오를 나타냄)

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 豪華な, スマートな
int. - フフン

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) أنيق, ممتاز (ظرف) بامتياز, باناقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮הדור, מצוחצח, מפואר‬
adv. - ‮בסגנון המעמד הגבוה, בהידור, של מותרות (בעיקר ריהוט)‬
n. - ‮התכונה או המצב של להיות הדור, אופנתי, או לבוש בסגנון המעמד העליון‬
int. - ‮קריאת בוז או סלידה‬

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