Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A frequenter of the turf; one devoted to horseracing.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun colloq. A votary of the turf, or race course; hence, sometimes, a blackleg.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun colloquial, dated A
votary of theturf , orracecourse . - noun colloquial, dated A
blackleg , or notoriousgambler .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"Your swells are always late," said a thick-lipped turfite, biting his stubby pencil prior to booking a favourable bet.
Adrien Leroy Charles Garvice
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It seemed that the departed turfite had been -- to use blunt English -- a very skilful and successful swindler.
The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour James Runciman 1871
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We were speaking about a youthful madman who was just then being plucked to the last feather, and I knew that the old turfite was right.
The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour James Runciman 1871
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When the history of our decline and fall comes to be Written by some Australian Gibbon, the historian may choose the British bully and turfite to set alongside of the awful creatures who preyed on the rich fools of wicked old Rome.
The Chequers Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in a Loafer's Diary James Runciman 1871
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A turfite and gambler, represented under the letters of Mr H-- e, having lost all his money at Doncaster and the following York Meeting, devised a plan, with his coadjutor, to obtain the means for their departure from York, which, no doubt, will be considered exceedingly ingenious.
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The good man came; he took the ` instructions, 'and drew up the last will and testament of the ruined turfite, who left (in the will) about £50,000, which no man ever heard of, living or dead.
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De Breulh was passionately fond of horses; but he was really a lover of them, and not a mere turfite, and this was all that the world knew of the man who held in his hands the fates of Sabine de Mussidan and Andre.
Caught in the Net ��mile Gaboriau 1852
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Aggravated by the loss he sustained by his horse winning the steeple-chase, he made an ill-advised onslaught on the cash-box of the London and Westminster Bank; and at three score years and ten this distinguished 'turfite,' who had participated with impunity in nearly all the great robberies of the last forty years, was doomed to transportation.
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour Robert Smith Surtees 1833
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As the jockey grows older and is freed from his apprenticeship he becomes a more and more important personage; if his weight keeps well within limits he can ride four or five races every day during the season; he draws five guineas for a win, and three for the mount, and he picks up an infinite number of unconsidered trifles in the way of presents, since the turfite, bad or good, is invariably a cheerful giver.
The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour James Runciman 1871
qms commented on the word turfite
The railbird refers to a bet as a flutter.
He sounds, in fact, like a thorough nutter.
Pass from acolyte
To mature turfite
When you casually sling the slang they utter.
May 2, 2014