Definition
Terms to describe supporters of the two major British political parties since the 17th Century with ever changing political positions for each. Possibly derived from slang for horse thieves and papist outlaws. By the latter 19th century the two major parties self-described as the Liberals and Conservatives, and only the term, Tories, still being used in the UK to identify the latter, while the Whig appellation crossed the Atlantic to identify a short lived American, high tariff party.