Meaning & use
Lilywhites
Last updated
Meanings
nounpluralBritishinformalsport
Nickname for Tottenham Hotspur, a London football club, and for its players and fans, from their white shirts.
Grammar: Always plural and usually written with a capital L; it works like a team name: the Lilywhites are playing.
Patterns
- the Lilywhites
- play for the Lilywhites
- a Lilywhites fan
The Lilywhites won again at home on Saturday.
He has supported the Lilywhites since he was a boy.
The Lilywhites' new stadium holds more than sixty thousand people.
nounpluralBritishinformalsport
Nickname for any sports team that wears all-white kit, especially in British football and rugby.
Grammar: Also plural; the meaning depends on context, so readers need to know which sport or league you mean.
Patterns
- the Lilywhites of something
In that league the Lilywhites are the team from the white side of town.
Commentators called them the Lilywhites because of their all-white strip.
Common combinations
- support the Lilywhites
- Her whole family supports the Lilywhites.
- the Lilywhites' manager
- The Lilywhites' manager spoke to reporters after the match.
- a Lilywhites shirt
- He wore an old Lilywhites shirt to the game.
- the Lilywhites faithful
- The Lilywhites faithful filled the away end.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Spurs
- The other common nickname of the same London club; it is shorter and even more informal.
Word family
- lily-white adjective
- Pure white in color, or (disapproving) describing a group that excludes others; the source of the nickname.
Commonly confused: Lilywhites or Lily White?
Lilywhites vs Lily White
Written as two words, this can just mean a person with very pale skin or hair, not a football team.
Practice
Which sentence uses the nickname correctly?
Choose one answer.
The nickname is a plural team name, so it takes a plural verb: the Lilywhites are playing. Option A wrongly uses it for one player, C treats it as a singular countable person, and D uses it as a verb, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Lilywhites”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.