tout
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From a dialectal form of toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), itself from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Merged with Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian, related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
tout (plural touts)
- Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
- Be careful of the ticket touts outside the arena, they are famed for selling counterfeits.
- 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima.
- Paul Muniment looked at his young friend a moment. 'Do you want to know what he is? He's a tout.'
- 'A tout? What do you mean?'
- 'Well, a cat's-paw, if you like better.'
- Hyacinth stared. 'For whom, pray?'
- 'Or a fisherman, if you like better still. I give you your choice of comparisons. I made them up as we came along in the hansom. He throws his nets and hauls in the little fishes—the pretty little shining, wriggling fishes. They are all for her; she swallows, 'em down.'
- A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Hocussing of Cigarette[1]:
- No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict ; he had often threatened any one of his employés with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these touts.
- (colloquial, archaic) A spy for a smuggler, thief, or similar.
- (colloquial) An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
- 2011, Hugh Jordan, Milestones in Murder: Defining Moments in Ulster's Terror War:
- The Derry Brigade of the IRA thought it had got rid of its informer problem when earlier that year it executed Paddy Flood as a tout, after holding him for six weeks.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
tout (third-person singular simple present touts, present participle touting, simple past and past participle touted)
- (transitive) To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.
- Mary has been touted as a potential succesor to the current COE.
- 2016 January 25, "Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon," The National (retrieved 25 January 2016):
- China has touted its policy of non-interference for decades.
- 2012, Scott Tobias, The Hunger Games, The A.V. Club
- For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
- 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide[2], page 9:
- Newspaper articles also were generally positive in tone, although a tendency towards sensationalism means that the spread of hybrid forms is occasionally touted as the universal language of the future.
- (obsolete) To look upon or watch.
- 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, lvi:
- Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But still upon the floor did pore and tout.
- 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, lvi:
- (Britain, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
- (US, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
- (Britain, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To spy out the movements of racehorses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
- (US, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
- (intransitive) To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
- March 1, 2016, Ben Judah on BBC Business Daily:
- To understand the new London, I lived it. I slept rough with Roma beggars and touted for work with Baltic laborers on the kerb.
- March 1, 2016, Ben Judah on BBC Business Daily:
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Etymology 2[edit]
Probably from French tout (“all”).
Noun[edit]
tout
See also[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle French tout, from Old French tot, from Latin tōtus (via regional Vulgar Latin tottus with emphatic-expressive gemination); compare Catalan tot, Italian tutto, Portuguese todo, Romanian tot, Spanish todo.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
tout m (plural touts)
Adjective[edit]
tout (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)
Pronoun[edit]
tout ? (plural tous)
Derived terms[edit]
Adverb[edit]
tout
Further reading[edit]
- “tout” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Haitian Creole[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Adjective[edit]
tout
Adverb[edit]
tout
Middle French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French tot.
Adjective[edit]
tout m (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)
- all; all of
- toute la nuit
- all (of the) night
Adverb[edit]
tout (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)
- all (intensifier)
- 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 45:
- Et moult y avoit de gens tout autour pour regarder la iustice de la damoiselle
- And there were many people all around to watch the justice afforded to the lady
- completely; totally; entirely
Usage notes[edit]
- Like Modern French tout, when used as an intensifier it may inflect according to the gender and the number of what it is describing:
- Elle est toute morte ― she is completely dead
- The uninflected form tout is always used for describing terms that don't inflect with gender, such as verbs, adverbs and prepositions:
- y avoit de gens tout autour ― there were people all around(tout qualifies the preposition autour)
Descendants[edit]
- French: tout
Norman[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French tot, from Latin tōtus.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (Jersey) (file)
Adjective[edit]
tout m
Derived terms[edit]
- èrtithe-tout (“lumber-room”)
- homme à tout faithe (“jack of all trades”)
- laîsse-tout-faithe (“neglectful person”)
- tout à ièrs (“all eyes”)
- toute-êpice (“allspice”)
- tout-s'mêle (“busybody”)
Adverb[edit]
tout
Scots[edit]
Verb[edit]
tout
- (intransitive) To pout.
Noun[edit]
tout (plural touts)
Derived terms[edit]
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English colloquialisms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- British English
- English slang
- American English
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms derived from French
- en:Card games
- en:People
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- French adjectives
- French pronouns
- French adverbs
- Haitian Creole terms derived from French
- Haitian Creole lemmas
- Haitian Creole adjectives
- Haitian Creole adverbs
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French adjectives
- Middle French terms with usage examples
- Middle French adverbs
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Norman terms inherited from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Old French
- Norman terms inherited from Latin
- Norman terms derived from Latin
- Norman terms with audio links
- Norman lemmas
- Norman adjectives
- Jersey Norman
- Guernsey Norman
- Norman adverbs
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs
- Scots intransitive verbs
- Scots nouns