▪ I. tooting, vbl. n.1 Now dial.
(ˈtuːtɪŋ)
In 4–6 totyng; 6 towting.
[f. toot v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of toot v.1; spying, peeping, looking.
| 1553 Respublica i. iii. 5 Theare was suche tooting, suche looking and suche priinge. 1598 Florio, Osolamento, a spying, a peeping, a tooting. |
b. attrib. as tooting-glass, looking-glass; tooting-hill = toot-hill; so tooting-hole, peep-hole; tooting-place, tooting-tower, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif Jer. xxxi. 21 Ordeyne to thee a toting place. 1388 ― Isa. xxi. 8 Y stonde contynueli bi dai on the totyng place of the Lord. c 1460 Med. Gramm., Speculare, a totynge hylle and a bekyne. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 105 Thei with in the citee [Orleans] perceiued well this totyng hole, and laied a pece of ordynaunce directly against the wyndowe. 1552 Huloet, Towtynge hoole to loke out at in a wall or wyndowe. 1556 T. Phaer æneid iv. L ij, As dawning waxed white from tooting towres on hie. c 1560 Gest Serm. in Dugdale Life (1840) 182 Senec..wryteth that tootyng glasses be found to know our selfes and to rule our lyfes by... O that we Christen men and women thus used our tootinge glasses. 1894 R. O. Heslop Northumbld. Gloss., Tooting-hole, a spyhole or loophole. |
▪ II. ˈtooting, vbl. n.2
Also 7–9 Sc. touting.
[f. toot v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of toot v.2; the sound made by blowing a horn or other wind-instrument.
| 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau i. ii. A iij b, Then maketh he with his Horne such tootyng and blowing. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 665 Another mercenary minstrell..kept a foolish and ridiculous tooting. 1630 J. Levett Order. Bees (1634) 30 You shall heare a touting in manner like the sounding of a Bewgle horne amongst the Bees. 1712 Nevill in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 270 Will not admit of any sound by Blast as a Horn doth, but by the articulate Voice of tooting it will. 1880 W. Newton Serm. for Boys & Girls (1881) 410 Tootings innumerable from the steam whistle. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as tooting-horn, tooting-trumpet.
| 1737 Ramsay Scots Prov. xx. 75 It is ill making a silk purse of a sow's lug, or a touting-horn of a tod's tail. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 2 note (Jam.), A touting horn (the horn of an ox perforated at the small end) by blowing on which they made a loud..sound. 1889 W. G. Dickson Glean. fr. Japan xiii. 251 The boy behind is provided with a small tooting-trumpet to warn other travellers on the road. |
▪ III. tooting, touting, vbl. n.3
see toot, tout v.3
▪ IV. tooting ppl. a.1
see toot v.1
▪ V. tooting, ppl. a.2
(tuːtɪŋ)
[f. toot v.2 + -ing2.]
1. That toots, as a horn, siren, etc. See also rootin' tootin' s.v. rooting ppl. a.2 2.
| 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xi. xxx, Still to have toting Waits unseal thine eyes. 1668 Shadwell Sullen Lovers i. i, Those rogues that..upon their toting instruments make a more hellish noise than they do at a play-house. 1909 Daily Chron. 16 Sept. 1/1 No tooting whistles signalled our departure. |
2. U.S. slang. Used, usu. with preceding adv. or adj. (as damn or var.), as a strong affirmative or intensive.
| 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 338 You're damn tootin', emphatic affirmative. 1933 E. Caldwell God's Little Acre i. 12 ‘After the albino, Pa?’ Buck asked. ‘You're durn tooting, son,’ he said. 1952 B. Malamud Natural 36 You're plumb tootin' crazy. 1970 E. Berckman She asked for It xi. 134 You're goddam' tootin' I'm on that again. Y'say I've been prying, you admit there's something to pry into. 1981 G. McDonald Fletch & Widow Bradley xviii. 72, I got pregnant, when you said I wouldn't... You tol' me a tootin' lie. |
▪ VI. tooting
var. touting vbl. n.1