See Also: Lipton, Sir Thomas J(ohnstone)(encyclopedia)
LIPTON SUFFOLK EMPLOYEES Credit Union(finance)
More, Sir Thomas(dictionary)
Kyd, Thomas(encyclopedia)
Thomas(2)(dictionary)
thomas(medicine)
Thomas, R S(dictionary)
Thomas(1)(dictionary)
St Thomas(dictionary)
Air St. Thomas(tourism)

sofa (iou) and Lipton, Sir Thomas J(ohnstone) (sh)


sofa (iou)



sofa noun. E17.
[French, ult. from Arab. uffa long (stone) bench.]
Esp. in Arab countries, a raised part of a floor, covered with rich carpets and cushions, and used for sitting. E17.
A long upholstered seat with a back and one or two arms, on which an individual may recline or two or more people may sit. E18.
Comb.: sofa bed, sofa-sleeper a sofa that can be converted to serve as a bed.
sofa'd adjective (a) (now rare or obsolete) seated as on a sofa; (b) furnished with a sofa or sofas: L18.

Lipton, Sir Thomas J(ohnstone) (sh)




born May 10, 1850, Glasgow, Scot.
died Oct. 2, 1931, London, Eng.

British merchant who built the Lipton tea empire.

He opened a small grocery in Glasgow that grew into a chain of retail shops throughout Britain. To supply his shops cheaply, Lipton bought tea, coffee, and cocoa plantations in Ceylon as well as English fruit farms, jam factories, and bakeries. In 1898 his business was organized into Lipton, Ltd.; he was knighted the same year and made a baronet in 1902. A keen yachtsman, he raced his Shamrock yachts five times unsuccessfully for the America's Cup.