taffy
part of speech
noun (taffy, taffies; uncountable for the sweet); Taffy — a name
meaning for a pupil
1) (US, Canada) A soft, chewy sweet made by boiling sugar or molasses and pulling it until it is shiny and stretchy; salt-water taffy is a famous kind. tree →
2) (UK, old) Another word for toffee in some places. tree →
3) (a name) Taffy is the little girl in two of Kipling's Just So Stories, «How the First Letter Was Written» and «How the Alphabet Was Made»; her full name is Taffimai Metallumai, which she says means «Small-person-without-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked». tree →
4) (UK, old, rude) An old nickname for a Welsh person; many Welsh people find it insulting, so do not use it. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life taffy is a seaside sweet in the USA and Canada, often sold at fairs and boardwalks. In «Reading children's books» Taffy is a clever, cheeky Stone-Age girl who draws a picture-letter for her mother and helps her father Tegumai invent the alphabet — the story is about how writing began. Phrases: «salt-water taffy», «taffy pull» (a party where people pull warm taffy).
examples
- We bought a bag of salt-water taffy on the boardwalk. tree →
- The taffy stuck to my teeth. tree →
- Grandma showed us how to pull taffy until it went pale and shiny. tree →
- Taffy drew a picture on birch bark to send a message to her mother. tree →
- Taffy and her daddy Tegumai made the first letters together. tree →
- Taffy was not very good at sitting still and being quiet. tree →
- In the story, nobody could read Taffy's picture properly, so there was a big muddle. tree →
- Still the turtle-dove cried: “Take two, Taffy, take two-o-o-o.” tree →
note
Taffy the sweet is uncountable («some taffy»), but «a taffy» or «taffies» can mean single pieces in the US. The girl's name starts with a capital letter. In the UK people usually say toffee, which is often harder. Do not call Welsh people «Taffy».
In the corpora
- Teshumai says: «Really, my Tegumai, you're no better than my Taffy.»
- Taffy draws lying flat on her tummy with her legs in the air.
- Taffy finishes her picture, proud of it, and asks if the Stranger-man understands.
- There they find Taffy making daisy-chains and Tegumai happily spearing small carp with his mended spear.
- Teshumai hugs Taffy, and the Head Chief grabs Tegumai by his top-knot feathers and shakes him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «taffy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.