Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- ostentatious or pretentious display.
verb (used with object)
- Slang. to treat with condescension; snub: The star ritzed the reporters and got a bad press.
- put on the ritz, Informal. to live in elegance and luxury, especially to make an ostentatious show of one’s wealth: They put on the ritz to impress their guests.Also put on the Ritz.
noun
- put on the ritz to assume a superior air or make an ostentatious display
“high quality, superiority,” 1910 (Ritzian, adj., is attested by 1908), in reference to the luxurious Ritz hotels in New York, London, Paris, etc., commemorating Swiss hotelier César Ritz (1850-1918). To put on the ritz “assume an air of superiority” is recorded from 1926. A verb ritz “to behave haughtily” is recorded from 1911.