Tory

From Conservapedia

The term Tory is used to refer to a member or supporter of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom and derives from the Tories, predecessors to the modern Conservatives, who supported the King in post-restoration conflict with Parliament in the seventeenth century. The term was originally a derogatory one, from the Irish word tóraidhe, meaning "outlaw" (there is a Tory Island off the north coast of Ireland). The Tory Party opposed (and was opposed by) the Whigs; broadly speaking, the Tories stood fror the old, semi-feudal landed and religious interests; the Whigs for trade, business and nonconformism, though there was a very large overlap between the tw in social terms, with many great landowning and aristocratic families favouring the Whigs. In the 19th century the Tories developed into the Conservatie Party and the Whigs into the Liberal Party.

During the American Revolution, "Tory" was a derisive term applied to colonial Loyalists who sided with the British.