▪ I. touch, n.
(tʌtʃ)
Forms: see touch v.
[Originally a. OF. touche, f. toucher to touch: cf. Pr., It. tocca stroke, blow, touch; also Prov. toc, It. tocco knock, stroke; f. toccare to hit, strike. In some later uses, directly from touch v.]
I. Literal and directly connected senses.
1. a. The action or an act of touching (with the hand, finger, or other part of the body); exercise of the faculty of feeling upon a material object. † In quot. 1340, ? a tactile organ (obs.). In quot. 1591, Hold, grasp, embrace (nonce-use).
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 779 Fyngers and taes, fote and hande, Alle his touches [MS. Lansd. lymmes] er tremblande. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 136 For he..preide, That wherupon his hond he leide, It scholde thurgh his touche anon Become gold. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. vii. (Bodl. MS.), Quyke siluer..semeþ ful colde in touche. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. iv. 36 The Harpyes..with thair laithlie tuiche all thing file thai. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 60 Ruffian: let goe that rude vnciuill touch. 1614 Purchas Pilgrimage ix. vii. (ed.2) 864 He toucheth the face and breast with cold touches. 1681 H. More Exp. Dan. iv. Notes 120 He healed the Blind and the Lame with Spittle and touch. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4126/3 They never had before received the Royal Touch. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 464 The antennæ..may be regarded as special instruments of touch. 1842 Tennyson ‘Break, break, break’ iii, But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand! 1898 G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses i. 6 The porter..receives it with a submissive touch to his cap. |
b. euphem. Sexual contact.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2985 (Cott.) Fra toche of hir i saued þe. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 2860 Sche Ay kepte hir clene from touche of any man. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 141 Who is as free from touch or soyle with her As she from one vngot. |
c. Med. Examination by feeling, esp. of a cavity of the body; palpation.
| 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 245 Had we..trusted to the touch, it might have been said we were deceived. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Touch..Obstet. Term for the examination of the womb, or mouth and neck of the womb. |
d. Milit. Contact between the elbows of a rank of soldiers; see quots. and cf. touch v. 2 g.
| 1877 Man. Field Artillery Exerc. 23 The right-hand or left-hand man being first placed, the remainder will fall in in line one after the other, closing lightly towards him, turning the elbow slightly outwards. Soldiers must be carefully instructed in the ‘Touch’, as, in this formation, it is the principal guide when marching. Ibid. 25 During the march..the dressing is kept by the touch. |
e. within touch or in touch, near enough to touch or be touched; within reach (of); accessible; also fig.
| 1854 S. Dobell Balder v. 29 Tottering..In touch of the inestimable prize. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. I. 119 The rough-hewn roof was within touch. 1896 Times 16 Dec. 5/3 [He] is not yet within touch of the telegraph. |
† f. The act of touching at a port (touch v. 11); a passing call during a voyage. Obs. rare—1.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1331 His first touch was upon the Island of Cerigo. |
g. A boys' game in which one player touches another, who then chases and tries to catch him; in full touch-and-run; also allusively (cf. touch and go). Cf. tig.
| 1815 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 80 His favourite has hit the line between good-humoured frankness and vulgarity, just touch and run. 1912 Daily News 4 Nov. 2/2 The lad was playing ‘touch-and-run’ with a number of others. |
2. a. The act, fact, or state of touching or being touched (of inanimate objects, or as an involuntary act: see touch v. 3); contact.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 252 With-outen towche of any tothe he tult in his þrote. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 149 b, The touch of the cold water made a prettie kinde of shrugging come ouer her bodie. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 273 And not one vessell scape the dreadfull touch Of merchant-marring rocks? 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 520 Part incentive reed Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 11 The flax That falls asunder at the touch of fire. 1874 A. O'Shaughnessy Music & Moonlight 40 Her passing touch was death to all, Her passing look a blight. |
† b. Geom. Contact; point of contact. Obs.
| a 1400 in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 62 Counte þe poyntes fro þe begynnyng of þe side of þe vmbre to þe touche of þe perpendicle. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. xxix, In the very poynte of the touche muste I make an angle. 1570 Billingsley Euclid iii. def. iii, Such a touch of circles is euer in one poynt onely. |
c. A small quantity of some substance brought into contact with a surface so as to leave its mark or effect; a dash, as of paint; a mark or stain so produced. See also 10.
In quot. 1581 with figurative allusion: cf. pitch n.1 4, and quot. 1382 s.v. touch v. 1. So a touch of the tar-brush: see tar-brush b, quot. 1864.
| 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 24 Of one selfe pitch, we all haue a touch. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 31, I..glew'd them to the object-plate, as I do stronger Insects with a touch of Turpentine. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, Maybe a touch o' a blackit cork, or a slake o' paint. |
d. A very close approach, a ‘shave’: cf. touch v. 14, toucher 4.
| 18.. Dickens (Ogilvie), The hind coach passed my engine by a shave. It was the nearest touch I ever saw. |
e. no touch to (U.S. colloq.): ‘nowhere near’, nothing approaching to.
| 1838 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. ii. vi. (1862) 206 Our sea sarpant was no touch to it. 1840 ― Letter Bag ii. 18 You ab seen fourth July day,..well he [is] no touch to it. |
3. a. That sense by which a material object is perceived by means of the contact with it of some part of the body; the most general of the bodily senses, diffused through all parts of the skin, but (in man) specially developed in the tips of the fingers and the lips.
| c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 537 Þanne haue y tynt all my tast, touche and assaie! 1599 Davies Immort. Soul ccxxii, By touch the first pure qualities we learn Which quicken all things, hot, cold, moist, and dry. a 1704 Locke Elem. Nat. Philos. xi. (1754) 50 The fifth and last of our senses is touch; a sense spread over the whole body, tho' it be most eminently placed in the ends of the fingers. 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. §8. 213 That figure and that extension which are objects of touch have been tortured ten thousand ways for twenty centuries. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 551 There is strong reason to regard the sense of Taste as only a refined kind of Touch, combined with the sense of Smell. |
b. The sensation caused by touching something (considered as an attribute of the thing); tactile quality, feel.
| 1674 Dryden Epil. opening of New House 4 A Country Lip may have the Velvet touch. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath (1805) 37 The smooth birch With rind of silken touch. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1202 Most decide by ‘the touch’, that is, the feel and appearance of a drop of the syrup..drawn into a thread between the thumb and fore-finger. 1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 259 The first token..for the purpose of ascertaining the feeding properties of an ox, is technically called the touch. |
4. a. A hit, knock, stroke, blow; esp. a very slight blow or stroke.
[Quot. 1297 here appears to be the earliest example of the word in Eng., and perh. shows the original sense, as ‘hit, stroke, blow’.]
In quot. c 1375, ? a slight wound or abrasion such as might be produced by a blow or scratch.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 12020 So þat þe erl of wareine slou atte verste touche Biuore þe iustises atte bench sir alein de la souche. c 1375 Cursor M. 14012 (Fairf.) Þer ho fande any touche of sare [Cott. ani breck or sare; Trin. chyn or soore] Wiþ hir þingus anoynt hit þare. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 605 (Thornton MS.) Swylke a touche at þat tyme he taughte hym in tene. 1581 T. Howell Deuises (1879) 216 For some perchance will byde a toutch or two, And will not seeme to flye when you shall fall. 1879 F. W. Robinson Coward Consc. ii. xvii, ‘It requires the finest touch’, said Mr. Slitherwick, shutting one eye to admire the position of the balls, ‘one of your very best touches, Mr. Oliver’. |
b. fig. A ‘hit’, stroke (of wit, satire, etc.); a ‘knock’; a ‘blow’.
| 1522 World & Child (1817) C j, How sayeste thou now folye hast thou not a touche? 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1144 To whom soon mov'd with touch of blame thus Eve. c 1720 Prior Paulo Purganti 29 It yet may feel the nicer touch Of Wycherley's or Congreve's wit. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. v, There was a hard touch for his Grace,..in the concluding sentence of the Don. |
II. Technical and allied senses.
* Relating to the touchstone.
5. a. The action or process of testing the quality of gold or silver by rubbing it upon a touchstone. [So OF. touche, It. tocco.]
| 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 187 Whereof was fyned metalle gode and clene, At the touche, no bettere coude be sene. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Runa ii, Good metall bides the touch that trieth out the gold. 1686 W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. xx. 94 He is like Gold, which hath too much Allay, that feareth the Touch. 1837 Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades (1842) 279 This test, by the touch, is performed at the present day... Touch needles are small bars made of compound metals, the proportions whereof are accurately marked on each. |
b. An official mark or stamp upon gold or silver indicating that it has been tested, and is of standard fineness; also, a die, punch, or stamp for impressing this. Also, an official mark stamped upon pewter.
| 1423 [see touch v. 8 b]. 1443 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) II. 132 A quart pot of silver with the touche of Parys. 1522 Will J. Surdevall (Somerset Ho.), Which spones hath the toche of the Goldesmythes. 1526–7 in Welch Hist. Pewterers' Co. (1902) I. 118 A fyn for deliueryng vessell vn-markyt w{supt} his towch..v s. [1564–1750 ibid. passim.] a 1553 Udall Royster D. ii. ii. (Arb.) 34 If he haue not one Lumbardes touche, my lucke is bad. 1594 Plat Jewell-h. iii. 79 Plate as either carieth no touch, or so old a touch as the buier shall not bee acquainted withall. 1697 View Penal Laws 142 If the Keeper of the Touch mark such harness with the Leopards head. 1852 A. Ryland Assay of Gold & Silver 38 The Touch is used in the old Statutes to denote in some places the Standard, in some the punch used in marking the wares, and in others the mark impressed upon the plate. 1860 J. Scarth 12 Yrs. China 116 Of the enormous amounts of gold..the greater part is guaranteed by a certain touch. |
c. The quality or fineness of gold or silver (or other metal) as tested with the touchstone and indicated by the official mark. [Cf. OF. touche de Paris, etc.]
| a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 53 b, Þat is to witen golde of certein touche. Ibid., Ant þat non ne wurche worse gold þan þe touche of paris. 1465 Paston Lett. I. 134, j. herneyse complete of the touche of Milleyn. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxiii. ix. II. 479 An act..for the proofe and allowance of silver deniers, what touch and what poise they should have. 1697 Observ. on Money & Coin 9 Gold shall be of the fineness of the Touch of Paris. 1766 T. Brooks Coins E. Indies 6, 1 Madrass Rupee..is Country Touch 97/8. China Touch 983/4. 1908 H. B. Morse Trade Chinese Emp. 149 ‘Pure silver’ of the Kuping tael touch is actually 987 fine when reduced to the Western standard of chemically pure silver. |
d. fig. Quality, kind, sort, ‘stamp’. In quot. 1878 transf. Quality or degree of purity (of opium).
| 1388 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 274 Fresch of the newe towch, incedunt ridiculose, Lityl or noght in her powch, pascuntur deliciose. 1579 J. Stubbes Gaping Gulf A vij, To be of one assaie or touche with the idolatrous and trayterous Israelits. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. i. 49 Come my sweet wife, my deerest Mother, and My Friends of Noble touch. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperfect Sympathies, He never stoops to catch a glittering something..before he quite knows whether it be true touch or not. 1878 Baber Rep. Chinese Opium (Parl. Paper Eng. C. 3378, 1882, 29) The advantage of ‘touch’, or percentage of extract, possessed by the Indian drug. |
† 6. Short for touchstone (see touchstone 2); esp. applied to black marble or some similar black stone used in monumental work. Obs. [So OF. touche for pierre de touche (Godef.).]
| a 1509 Will. of Hen. VII (Parker Gloss. Archit. 1845), In which place we wol, that..be made a Towmbe of Stone called Touche, sufficient in largieur for us booth. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 96 b, Gates all like Masonrie, of White and Blacke, like Touche and White Merbell. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 41 Such notable quarries of greie marble and touch. c 1625 Bacon Will Wks. 1874 XIX. 541 Also the armour, and also all tables of marble and towch. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, York (1662) ii. 186 Vulgar eyes confound the inlayings made of black Marble..with Touch, Geat, and Ebony. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 143 Several parts of it were as bright and splendent as Touch or Steel-mirrour. |
7. fig. (from 5). An act of, or thing that serves for, testing; a test, trial, proof; a criterion, ‘touchstone’. Now chiefly in phr. to put to the touch.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions iii. (1887) 12, I will binde vpon proofe, and let triall be the tuche. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 8 Ah Buckingham, now doe I play the Touch, To trie if thou be currant Gold indeed. 1624 Quarles Job vii. med. xiii, Affliction is the Touch, whereby we proove, Whether 't be Gold, or guilt. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 206/1 Verity is not ashamed of the Light, nor afraid to come to the touch. 1706 Kennett Compl. Hist. Eng. III. 561/1 That when it came to the Touch, they wou'd never bear the Brunt of a Battle. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped 10 Till I had put the matter to the touch of proof. |
** In instrumental music.
8. Mus. The act or manner of touching or handling a musical instrument, so as to bring out its tones; now esp. the manner of striking or pressing the keys of a keyboard instrument so as to produce special varieties of tone or effect. Hence transf. (chiefly poet.) a single sound produced by touching an instrument; a note or brief strain of instrumental music.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 120 Nwe nakryn noyse with þe noble pipes, Wylde werbles & wyȝt wakned lote, Þat mony hert ful hiȝe hef at her towches. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. ii. 79 Orpheus Lute,..Whose golden touch could soften steele and stones. 1596 ― Merch. V. v. i. 67 With sweetest tutches pearce your Mistresse eare, And draw her home with musicke. 1628 Milton Vac. Exerc. 38 Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings To th' touch of golden wires. 1667 ― P.L. iv. 686 With Heav'nly touch of instrumental sounds. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth x, I hear no unpleasing touch of minstrelsy. 1879 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 647 A sensitive instrument of touch, instead of one of mere percussion. 1884 F. Taylor ibid. IV. 152 Pianoforte music demands two distinct kinds of touch, the one adapted for..brilliant passages, the other for sustained melodies. |
b. As an attribute of the performer: Capacity, skill, or style of playing; now esp. on a keyboard instrument, in relation to the action of the fingers upon the keys (see above).
| 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 15, I had the best stroke, the sweetest touch, but now..I am falne from the Fiddle. 1613 Fletcher, etc. Captain i. iii, You had a pleasant touch o' th' cittern once, If idleness have not bereft you of it. a 1913 Mod. He has a remarkably delicate touch, and excels in pianissimo. |
c. As an attribute of a keyboard instrument, referring to the manner in which its keys and action respond to the touch of the player.
| 1816 Jane Austen Emma II. viii. 147 Having so much to ask and to say as to tone, touch, and pedal. 1884 W. Parratt in Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 153 It is rare to find any two [organ] manuals with a similar touch, and the amount of force required to press down the key varies within wide limits. Even on the same keyboard the touch is appreciably heavier in the bass. 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 279/2 The next item, and one claiming serious attention, is the ‘touch’, for on this depends in a great measure the pleasure and comfort of the performer. 1906 Edin. Rev. Apr. 412 It has a flexibility, what musicians call a sense of touch. a 1913 Mod. This piano (or organ) has a very stiff (or, a very light) touch. |
† d. app. = toccata. Obs.
| a 1623 in Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 154 (title of MS. in Brit. Mus.) A touche by Mr. Byrd. a 1782 Ibid. (title of MS. in Lib. Roy. Coll. Music), Mr. Kelway's touches. |
9. Bell-ringing. Any series of changes less than a peal.
| 1872 Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon, etc. ix. 471 A peal..means the performance of the full number of changes which may be rung on a given number of bells; any less number of changes would be called ‘a touch’. 1898 G. S. Tyack Bk. about Bells viii. 141 Five thousand changes..is the smallest number to which the name of a peal is technically allowed, less than that number merely constitutes a ‘touch’. |
*** In artistic work.
10. a. An act of touching a surface with the proper tool in painting, drawing, writing, carving, etc.; a stroke or dash of a brush, pencil, pen, chisel, or the like; hence, a stroke or dash of colour in a picture, etc., or a detail of any artistic work, as in literary description; a slight act or effort added in doing or completing a piece of work of any kind.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 38 It [a picture] tutors Nature, Artificiall strife Liues in these toutches, liuelier then life. 1693 Dryden Juvenal Ded. (1697) 5 Some few Touches of your Lordship, some secret Graces which I have endeavour'd to express after your manner. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 357 ¶8 Milton never fails of..bestowing the last finishing Touches to every Incident. 1768 W. Gilpin Ess. Prints 39 Unless the pencil add those high-blown touches, which mark the passion. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. II. x. 212 She might be suspected of having given it some after touches. 1894 J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 74 Eddius's graphic touch about St. Wilfrid..some life-like touches in Colgan's Vita Secunda. |
b. Capacity of using the brush, pencil, pen, or other instrument; artistic skill or faculty; style or quality of artistic work; method of handling, execution. (Cf. 8 b, 18.)
| 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 748 Painting in crayons..may serve to teach him a masterly freedom of touch. 1880 Warren Book-plates iv. 35 In Mountaine's early Chippendale style, and with that engraver's touch. |
**** In Magnetism.
11. The action or process of magnetizing a steel bar or needle by contact with one or more magnets; different methods are known as single touch, double touch, and separate touch.
| 1705 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2143 This gave so vigorous a Touch, that I am almost of opinion, It is the best way of Touching. 1837 Brewster Magnet. 15 The science of magnetism is..indebted to Mr. Michell for his invention of the method of double touch. 1849 Noad Electricity 308 Mr. Michell states that two magnets will, by his process of double touch, communicate as strong a magnetic virtue to a steel bar, as a single magnet of five times the strength, when used in the process of single touch. |
***** In Amer. and Rugby Football.
12. The act of touching the ground with the ball behind the goal, usually the opponents' goal (see touch v. 30, also touchback, s.v. touch- 2, touchdown 1); transf. (esp. in phr. in touch or into touch), that part of the ground outside the bounding lines of the field of play (touch-lines and goal-lines); touch-in-goal, that part of this behind the goal-line.
| 1857 [see play n. 10 d]. 1864 Field 5 Nov. 331/1 The School..managed to keep the ball close to their opponents' goal, till at length a long drop of Poole's took the ball into touch-in-goal. 1864 [see touch v. 2 f]. 1877 Ibid. 24 Feb. 220/2 Clifton scored a touch in goal. 1886 Ibid. 9 Oct. 535/2 An easy victory..by eight goals, three tries, and six touches to one goal. 1889 H. Vassall Rugby Football 18 Our full-back..should always bear in mind that he must send it [the ball] into touch at all costs, as that means so much ground gained for his side for the next line out. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 250/1 The ball is thrown out from touch by the side that carried it in, or by the opposite team to that which kicked it in. |
III. Various figurative senses. (See also 1 e, 2 e, 4 b, 5 d, 7.)
13. fig. The act of touching or fact of being touched (in fig. senses of the vb.). a. A stroke, action, or influence (esp. slight, or momentary); a slight or instantaneous act producing some effect.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xc. i, Free From all touch of age and yeare. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 35, I will..strike her thoughts with the pleasing touch of my voice. c 1742 Gray Ignorance 21 With damp, cold touch forbid it [spark of wit] to aspire. 1780 Burke Sp. Econ. Reform Wks. III. 261 That their ancient..castles should moulder into decay, under the silent touches of time. 1799 Monthly Rev. XXX. 490 The Cartesian hypothesis melted away under the touch of geometry. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xvi, Curing me, in respect that I had got a touch of the wars in my retreat. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 329 Death's kindly touch..gave Soul and body both release. 1884 H. James Little Tour in France xxvii. 173 Vineyards red with the touch of October. |
b. spec. An impression upon the mind or soul; a feeling, sense (of some emotion, etc.); † a feeling of interest or concern in something (cf. touch v. 20, 21).
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. ciii. viii, And looke how much The neerly touching touch The father feeles towards his sonne most deare. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 18 Didst thou but know the inly touch of Loue. 1690 C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 210 If the Holy Spirit doth not touch us with his divine touches, the unclean spirit will with his deadly touches. 1866 B. Taylor Over Possession Poems 270, I wait the touch of song. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 232 One occurrence, or idea, or touch of feeling, is selected, and..seldom treated at any great length. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xii, Some touch of compunction smote him. |
c. The condition of being mentally ‘touched’ or affected (touch v. 23 b); slight derangement. rare—1.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 178 ¶2 My Friend the Upholsterer, whose Crack towards Politicks I have heretofore mention'd. This Touch in the Brain of the British Subject is..owing to the reading News-Papers. |
d. A close relation of communication, agreement, sympathy, or interest; chiefly in phr. in or out of touch with, also to keep or lose touch with (rarely of). [Perh. orig. in literal use, in military drill; cf. 1 d.]
| 1884 Church Bacon vi. 153 The Kingship of the Tudors..always seeking..to be in touch and sympathy with popular feeling. 1884 Pall Mall G. 25 Jan. 4/2 Sir Henry Parkes has always kept himself in touch with English public opinion. 1884 Christian World 15 May 369/2 He had never lost touch with his brethren. 1887 A. Fleming in Libr. Mag. 29 Jan. 325 To bring religion into touch with conduct. 1891 G. Moore Impressions & Opinions 88 He is out of touch with them; he cannot make them understand. 1901 Earl Spencer in Parl. Deb. 5 July 948 But they are not in touch..with all the best information which the Board of Admiralty have at their command. 1969 H. Perkin Key Profession i. 4 By then Newman was out of touch with what universities were becoming. 1980 D. Lodge How Far can you Go? iv. 121 Most of them had been out of touch with him for many years, but he spoke to them as if it was only yesterday. |
14. (fig. from 3.) A faculty or capacity of the mind analogous or likened to the sense of touch; mental or moral perception or feeling.
| 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. iv. (1701) 134/1 They held that..those things only can be perceived which are felt by inward touch as grief and pleasure. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. v. 179 An accuracy and delicacy of intellectual touch. 1904 H. Black Pract. Self Cult. vii. 168 You will develop tact, which is just the faculty of touch, fineness of sensation. |
15. A stroke of action, an act; a brief turn or ‘go’ at some occupation; † in early use, a sly, mean, or deceitful act, a trick (obs.). Now rare.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard xxv. (Arb.) 56 O what false touches can he, how can he stuffe the sleue wyth flockes. a 1521 J. Heywood Pard. & Friar Plays (1905) 21 If thou play me such another touch I sh' knock thee on the costard. 1530 Palsgr. 640 It is no good felowes touche to stande mouching in a cornar. 1572 Gascoigne Counc. to B. Withipoll 7 Beleeue me now it is a friendly touch, To vse fewe words where friendship doth remaine. a 1591 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 406 Mahomet..went and first took part with the Romans, but afterwards served them a sly touch, and forsook them. 1598 T. Bastard Chrestoleros (1880) 36 Some will giue sixe pence for a witty touch, And some to see an Ape will giue as much. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 37 (1713) I. 246 We'll have a Touch with him for it one of these Days. 1791 O'Keeffe Wild Oats ii. ii, I'll take a touch at the London theatre. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lug. ii. i, She might not only clean her husband's loom in peace but have a touch at the old man's. |
16. a. An act of touching upon or mentioning something; a mention, reference, allusion, slight notice, hint; a brief statement or narration. Now rare or Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1301 Bot he had craued a cosse, bi his courtaysye, Bi sum towch of summe tryfle, at sum talez ende. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. Ded. (Rolls) 1 Whanne I loke upon hem, and have a schort touch of the writing, I can sone dilate the circumstaunses. 1600 O. E. Repl. Libel i. vii. 169 He passeth this ouer without touch, and onely telleth vs [etc.]. 1628 Coke On Litt. (1629) 289 Two ancient Records..whereof to my remembrance, I neuer read any touch in our Bookes. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. ii. §7 (1712) 43 First I shall recurr and give a touch upon the nature of gravity. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Mark xvi. 14 Mark doth but give us a brief touch of some of Christ's appearances, and leaves much, recorded by others. 1706 J. Logan in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 120, I cannot think it becomes me when I write about thy business to give it by hints and touches. 1855 W. Arnot Let. in Mrs. A. Fleming Life vi. (1877) 295, I can on short warning give you a little touch, with a moral in it like the two papers I have sent you. |
† b. The fact or quality of touching, affecting, concerning, or relating to something; relation, reference, concern. Obs. rare.
| 1612 Bacon Ess., Discourse (Arb.) 21 Speech of touch toward others, should bee sparingly vsed; for discourse ought to bee as a field, without comming home to any man. 1625 Ibid., Anger 566 Opinion of the Touch of a Mans Reputation, doth multiply and sharpen Anger. |
† 17. The quality or fact of affecting injuriously; reproach, blemish, stain, taint. Obs.
| 1567 Queen Elizabeth Let. to Throgmorton in Robertson Hist. Scot. (1759) II. App. 47 We..cannot but think them to have therein gone so far beyond the duty of subjects, as must needs remain to their perpetual touche for ever. c 1580 Walsingham in Digges Compl. Ambass. (1655) 366 They did not see how their Monsieurs honour..could be salved, without great touch to both. 1588 Copy of Let. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 71 Reported, to the dishonour of the Duke of Medina..and to a great touch to the commanders of the Spanish navy. 1616 Sir R. Dudley in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 16 That I have lived these nine yeares abroade, without all tutche of disloyalty. |
18. a. A distinguishing quality, characteristic, trait. (Cf. 5 d; but app. partly fig. from 10.) In later use often passing into ‘trace’: see 19.
| 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 38 It is theyr owne maners, theyr owne qualities, touches, condicions, & procedynges that shape them this fortune. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus i. i, But he had other touches of late Romans, That more did speak him: Pompey's dignity, The innocence of Cato, Cæsar's spirit. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 175 One touch of nature makes the whole world kin [= One natural trait proves the kinship of all mankind]: That all with one consent praise new borne gaudes. 1679 J. Goodman Penit. Pard. ii. i. (1713) 144 As if men had forgone all touches of humanity and were become a kind of walking-ghosts. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 35 You shall trace those Gothic touches at school, at country fairs, at the hustings, and in Parliament. 1897 H. Newbolt Admirals All 30 But cared greatly to serve God and the king, And keep the Nelson touch. |
b. (fig. from senses 8 b, 10 b.) A person's characteristic skill or aptitude in any activity, spec. a sport; to lose one's touch, to be out of touch, not to show one's customary skill; similarly to be in touch.
| 1927 Sat. Rev. 9 July 60/1 But in the extended character-drawing of Ferdinand Banting and Tom Lord, who are not indigenous to the King's Cross scene, he seems to lose his touch. 1933 Times 18 Nov. 5/7 Success depended on being in touch for his drop shots, and yesterday his touch failed him. Ibid. 8 Dec. 6/2 He lost his touch and made but one more ace before the match was over. 1939 Punch 4 Oct. 378/1 That fatal hour when Hitler lost his touch. 1955 Times 13 July 8/5 It is one of the signs of greatness to be able to stay in for a long time without finding touch, and yet without looking exactly like getting out. 1959 Times 29 May 4/2 Nicholls, who has been out of touch, is a tall, stylish player. 1976 Liverpool Echo 6 Dec. 17/2 It was..stalemate until Ipswich found the touch which produced the winner 15 minutes from the end. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 28/3 The presence of Kallicharran in his best touch for the series..encouraged a little West Indian optimism entering the last day. 1979 A. Morice Murder in Outline v. 44 She may not be in the pink of health, but she has not lost her touch. |
19. A slight amount or trace of some quality, attribute, or ingredient; ‘a small quantity intermingled’ (J.); a trace, spice, smack.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 157 Madam, I haue a touch of your condition, That cannot brooke the accent of reproofe. 1643 J. M. Soveraigne Salve 21 Hath not even the Lord Chancellour a little touch of such a power? 1707 Norris Treat. Humility vi. 282 The bashful and blushing speaker must have a touch of vanity in his constitution. 1821 Scott Kenilw. vii, She hath in her a touch of her father Henry. 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1839) 477 Grey with a touch of red. |
b. spec. A slight affection or attack of illness or disease; a twinge. (Cf. 4.) Also a touch of the sun, a mild attack of sunstroke.
| 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 259 Monsieur Mandelslo was the onely person who had no touch of sicknesse all along our Travels. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 260 Every one threatned me with that Distemper, and yet..I never had the least touch of it. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. viii. (1809) 102, I have a touch of the gout in my knees. 1890 Besant Demoniac ii, He said he had had a touch of sore throat. 1890 Kipling Life's Handicap (1891) 165, I judge no man this weather... He had a touch of the sun, I fancy. 1915 R. Brooke Let. Apr. (1968) 680 When I had a touch of the sun, in Egypt. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate v. 118 ‘A touch of the sun,’ Freddy said. Amnesia, was the doctor's conclusion... Nonsense, I'm suffering from sunstroke. |
c. Without of: A very little, a slight amount; in advb. const. = slightly, somewhat, ‘a little bit’.
| 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 81 Ye maist wad think, a wee touch langer, An' they maun starve o' cauld and hunger. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. vii, Still this story..seems a touch even beyond Tom Hillary. 1868 Freeman in Stephens Life & Lett. (1895) I. 405, I really think that the Great Unpaid are a touch more sensible. |
20. a. slang or colloq. An article or ‘affair’ that will touch or move purchasers to the extent of a certain price.
| 1712 Swift Pref. to Burnet's Hist. Ref. Wks. 1738 VI. 53, I desire you to print in such a form, as in the Bookseller's phrase will make a Sixpenny touch. 1720 Sir E. Philipps Diary 22 Sept., At night went to the Ball at the Angel. A guinea touch. 1815 Scott Let. to J. B. S. Morritt 2 Oct., in Lockhart, I think..the Poems of David [Hume] would make a decent twelve-shilling touch. 1865 Slang Dict., Touch, a slang expression in common use in phrases which express the extent to which a person is interested or affected, as ‘a fourpenny touch’, i.e. costing that amount. |
b. slang. An act of stealing or theft, esp. of pocket-picking; also, the act of getting money from a person, esp. by persuasion or glib talk; transf. a sum of money gained or got at once, esp. by theft; to make a touch, to obtain money thus. (Cf. touch v. 15, 16 b.)
| 1846 Nat. Police Gaz. (U.S.) 18 July 390/1 Ingenious Touch... Phillsburg..felt for his money, and..found in its place another pocket-book filled with newspaper instead of money. Ibid. 25 July 389/1 The Read Street Touch Case. Ann Henry, the keeper of a den of infamy and..one of her syrens, have been fully committed on the charge of robbing Townsend W. Hetherington. 1865 Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar & Pickpocket xv. 48/2 The most splendid ‘touch’ of the campaign was already in our grasp! Ibid. xvii. 58/2 They took a furnished room in..Seven Dials, until a lucky ‘touch’ came off, when they took larger apartments. 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xliv, A thousand ounces of gold was no foolish touch. 1896 Ade Artie v. 43 Next day they had to make a hot touch for a short coin so as to get the price of a couple o' sinkers and a good old ‘draw one’. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 12/2 Returns of pocket-picking. He estimates twenty-five dollars a ‘touch’ as a fair record if there is much money in the crowd, and five or six touches a day as a good average. 1912 Nation 7 Dec. 428/2 No two thefts are ever absolutely alike, and no ‘touch’ of any merit is brought off but with study and preparation. 1914 Automobile Topics 4 July 638/3 His story of not being able to find employment..has enabled him to make many a successful ‘touch’. 1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xvi. 114, I figure it's a good time to..make a quick touch on the Sternwoods for travel money. 1953 Essays in Crit. III. 111 The poet might regard the patron as an intimate,..or simply as a public Maecenas, good for a ‘touch’ of three guineas a dedication. 1964 C. Chaplin Autobiogr. xvii. 299 It seemed obvious from the tone of the letter that it was all leading up to a ‘touch’. So I thought I would take along $500. |
c. soft touch or easy touch: a person easily manipulated; spec. one easily induced to part with money; also, a task or opponent easily handled. colloq.
| 1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey 44 You get the reputation of being a soft touch. 1945 Sun (Baltimore) 4 Oct. 1/1 Newhouser.., who figured to be the outstanding pitcher of the season, proved..to be the softest sort of a touch for Manager Charlie Grimm's National Leaguers. The second Cub to bat belted him cleanly. 1955 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy (1956) xii. 80 Dorsey's appetite for easy money..was honed to a razor edge... He sensed a vast soft touch. 1959 H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker vi. 45/1 He was an easy touch for any hard-luck story. 1972 Police Rev. 1 Dec. 1562/2, I would also warn any university student regarding the Police as a ‘soft touch’ for graduates. 1976 Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 29 Nov., Caravan dwellers are on the increase and they will keep on increasing while Norwich remains an easy touch; the complacency regarding this problem is alarming. |
d. to cut up (old) touches: see cut v. 60 r.
IV. Concrete senses. (See also 2 c, 6, 10, 20.)
21. Short for touch-powder, touchwood, or the like. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1541–2 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 Little handguns, ready furnished with..Gunpouder, fyer, & touche. 1619 H. Hutton Follies Anat. (Percy Soc.) 18 Where's your tobacco box, your steele and touch? 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV cclviii, The fangle which Fires the drye touch of Constitution. 1887 Suppl. to Jamieson, Touch, touche, short for touch-wood, but applied to amadou and other materials used as tinder: ‘as sharp as touch’, as quick [to ‘fire up’] as touch-wood, quick-tempered. |
† 22. = touch-piece 2. Obs.
| 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 26 When the Barrel turns the pins Q and R, they may make the said conveiances open..according to..the disposition of the Pins and Touches Q and R. |
23. Shipbuilding. In a plank tapering both ways, the projecting angle at the broadest part (near one end if worked top-and-butt, in the middle if worked anchor-stock fashion); also, each of the angles of the stern-timbers at the counters.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 25 Set off the exact Length forward and aftward from the Observation of the rising of the Keel, by Shipwrights called the Touch, or Place where the Keel's upper Part ends to be streight. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 392/1 On the pencil line set off the distance the touch of the lower counter is abaft the aft side of the wing transom. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 128 This work is the best when the touch or knuckle is at the planksheer. |
V. Phrases.
† 24. to keep touch. a. To keep covenant, keep faith, keep one's promise, or engagement, act faithfully. Also to hold touch. (? From the practice of striking hands, or of touching something sacred (cf. touch v. 1, quot. 1491), in making a covenant.) So to break touch. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1677, I schal..halde þe towchez. a 1529 Skelton Mann. World 90 Amonge them that are riche, No frendshyp is to kepe tuche. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 159 By kepyng his promise and touche. c 1557 Abp. Parker Ps. lxxviii. 219 They kept not true tutch wyth God hys pact they overyed. 1594 Death of Usurie 4 If a shop-keeper lend mony..to his neighbour.., if he breake touch the shop-keeper may lawfully take so much as he sustained losse. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 847 Quoth Hudibras, Thou offer'st much, But art not able to keep touch. 1706 Reflex. upon Ridicule 47 To promise every body and keep touch with no body. 1825 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superannuated Man, When the week came round did the glittering phantom..keep touch with me? |
b. To keep up communication, keep in touch with: so to lose touch: see 13 d.
† 25. to flee touch, to make off, to escape; also = break touch (see 24 a). Obs.
| c 1530 Hickscorner B j b, A strype he gaue me, I fledde my touche, And frome my gyrdle he plucked my pouche. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. x. (1580) 56 He was fain to flee touche and avoide from Bethlehem into Egypt. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xxvi. 153 They were vnconstant and fled touch anon after. |
† 26. true (good, sure) as touch: perfectly or absolutely true, etc. (? from sense 5.) Obs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 2 To thinke how she through guyleful handeling, Though true as touch,..Is from her knight divorced. 1620 Shelton Quix. (1746) IV. x. 77 Of Sancho's Proceeding in his Government, with other Successes as good as Touch. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 187 And that was sure as touch, because the House was to be past by Act of Parliament to the King's Majesty. |
† 27. rum touch: an odd or queer fellow. Obs. slang.
| 1804 T. Creevey in C. Papers, etc. (1904) I. 22 To meet Brogden and Col. Porter, two cursed rum touches that he has persuaded to vote with him and to desert Fox. 1806 S. Grildrig Miniature (ed. 2) II. 9 The last whom I shall mention is an Odd Fellow, or according to the language of the day, ‘a rum touch’. Ibid. 10 Whereas many young fellows..have..attempted to sustain the character of a Rum Touch, and have..failed most miserably, notice is hereby given [etc.]. |
28. in touch or out of touch: see 13 d, 18 b. in touch or within touch: see 1 e. to put to the touch: see 7.
VI. Combinations: see touch- in comb.
Add: [7.] b. Stock Exchange. The difference or spread between the highest buying price and the lowest selling price in a commodities or share market.
| 1933 H. D. Berman Stock Exchange ii. 11 Discreet inquiry might discover that one jobber calls them 33s. 9d.–34s. 3d., while a third jobber calls them 34s.–34s. 6d., so that the actual {oqq}touch{cqq} would be 34s.–34s. 3d. 1986 Financial Times 23 Oct. 9/7 For alpha stocks, the touch is only 0.75 per cent, for gammas 3.37 per cent. |
▸ Brit. colloq.to kick (a person or thing) into touch and variants: to cause (a person or thing) to become inactive or irrelevant; to dismiss, reject, or nullify. Cf. sense 12.
| 1976 Times 13 Oct. 10/6 While his power was uncontested he seemed to have kicked Mr Wang into touch. 1989 Empire Sept. 87/1 The most believable relationship in the film..is kicked into touch by a dreadful scene. 1999 Birdwatch Apr. 31/3 The previously accepted British records from 1862, 1872, 1902 and 1957 were firmly booted into touch by the BOU. 2004 Radio Times (Midlands ed.) 5 June 27/1 After four series and one Fantasy World Cup, the formula became stale, so Frank and David kicked it into touch. |
▪ II. touch, v.
(tʌtʃ)
Forms: α. 3–6 touche, 3–7 towche, (4 tuoche), 4–6 toche, tuche, (tuouche), 4–7 tuch, 5–7 towch, (6 twoche, 6–7 toutch, tutch(e, 7 towtch), 6– touch. β. (chiefly Sc.) 4–6 twech(e, 5–6 twich(e, twych, tuiche, tuech(e, 5–7 tuich, 6 tweich, tueiche, tuitch, 6–7 twitch; 7–9 dial. titch.
[ME. a. OFr. tochier, tuchier (11th c. in Chanson Roland), mod.F. toucher ‘to touch’ = ONF. toquer, Pr. toquar, tocar, tochar, Sp. and Pg. tocar, It. toccare ‘to strike, to smite, to hit, to touch’ (Florio), Romanian tocà to knock.
The passage of the sense ‘knock, strike’ into that of ‘touch’ (in Fr., etc.), is like that of Eng. ‘thrust, push’ into ‘put’: a stroke at its lightest is a mere touch. The Romanic toccare has been held, after Diez, to be from an OLG. *tokkôn, *tukken, MLG. tocken, tucken, = OHG. zocchôn, zucchen, ‘to draw or pull with force, pluck’; but a change of sense from ‘pull’ to ‘knock’ is inexplicable, and it is a more probable view that toccare was not from German, but an onomatopœic formation of the Romanic langs. from the syllable toc imitating a knock. Tocken, in its own sense ‘draw’, is still in use in LG. and in parts of Holland on the German frontier, but not in Dutch itself. But the South Netherlands (Flanders, Antwerp, etc.) use now, as in Kilian's time, a vb. tokken in the same sense as the toquer, touker of Old Northern French and its modern dialects, whence this has prob. been taken over. There is thus a gap in local continuity, as well as in sense, between the German and Romanic words. (Cf. Diez s.v. Toccare, Scheler s.v. Toucher, Körting 9802 Tukkôn; Gaston Paris in Romania XXVII. 626.)]
I. The simple verb.
* Physical senses.
1. a. trans. To put the hand or finger, or some other part of the body, upon, or into contact with (something) so as to feel it; ‘to exercise the sense of feeling upon’ (Phillips, 1696). Also with the hand, etc., as subject of the verb.
Usually denoting a momentary and slight act: cf. touch n.
| c 1300 Beket 2229 And ho miȝte him enes tuochi, he was glad ynouȝ. 13.. Cursor M. 24498 (Cott.) Þat i moght toche him hand and fote. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xiii. 1 Who shal touche pich, shal be defoulid of it. 1382 ― Matt. viii. 3 And Jhesus holdynge forthe the hond, touchide hym, sayinge, I wole, be thou maad clene. 1491 Regr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Cl.) I. 328 Þe parteis..ar oblist..be þe haly ewangell tuechet befor þir vytnes. 1526 Tindale John xx. 17 Jesus sayde vnto her: touche me not. 1528 Lyndesay Dreme 1088 All that he twychit, but delatioun, Turnit in gold. 1570 Levins Manip. 182/30 To Tutche, tangere. 1599 Davies Immort. Soul cxcvi, And in those fiue All things their Formes expresse, Which we can touch, tast, feele, or heare, or see. a 1657 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems xi. 5 Hands, forbeare to tuich Oght ȝo{supr} tuiching can bewitch! 1764 Reid Inquiry v. vi. 127 My two hands touch the extremities of a body. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 22 When I touch a warm body, the caloric passes from the body into my hand. 1847 Kinglake Eothen xvi, With tremulous boldness she touches—then grasps your hand. |
Constructions. b. To touch (a thing) with the hand or other part, or with some instrument.
| c 1375 Cursor M. 20759 (Fairf.) Ga to þa men..& touche ham he saide wiþ hit. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 88 With Triall-fire touch me his finger end. 1643– [see tongs 2 a]. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 811 Him thus intent Ithuriel with his Spear Touch'd lightly. 1704 Pope Messiah 6 O thou my voice inspire, Who touched Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 582 (Glass-making) The..workman..touching its tubular neck with an iron chisel dipped in cold water. 1847 Kinglake Eothen xviii, She has touched the poor Levantine with the hem of her sleeve. |
c. To touch (the hand or other part, or something held) to († till) something, = to bring it into contact with something; with pl. obj. to bring (two things) into mutual contact.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21549 (Cott.) Þe thred [third cross] þai toched til his hide, And up he ras wit-vten bide. c 1460 Play Sacram. 775 And towche thyn hand to thy saluacon. 1715 Prior Down-Hall 173 Now let us touch thumbs, and be friends ere we part. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 141 He then touched his white wand to the neck of his steed. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 378/2 Touch a match to it, and you will presently have a fire. |
d. absol. or intr. (in general sense).
| 1388 Wyclif Isa. lix. 10 We as with outen iȝen touchiden. a 1648 Digby Chym. Secr. ii. (1682) 232 Dip a Straw or Feather in it, and touch all round about the borders of the Sore with it. a 1897 G. Meredith Marian i, She can talk the talk of men, And touch with thrilling fingers. |
2. Specific applications of sense 1. a. To have sexual contact with. trans., or (obs.) intr. with to (till).
| 13.. Cursor M. 10877 (Gött.) Þe womman þat neuer touchid man, How sal scho conceyue? tel me þan. Ibid. 11139 (Cott.) Als quen he fand wit barn his wijf, Þat he neuer had toched till. c 1375 Ibid. 2422 (Fairf.) Þat muȝt na mon of lecchery hir body touche wiþ velany. 1512 Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1828) III. 40 Your noble person hath touched often times to hers after the constitucion of the sacrament of mariage. 1762 Brydges Burlesque Homer (1772) 361 May I for cats and dogs turn butcher, If ever yet she'd let me touch her. |
(b) = to touch up, sense 34 c (b) below; refl., to masturbate.
| 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 177/2 Touch... verb... (or to touch up), to grope a woman. 1927 F. Harris My Life & Loves (1934) IV. ix. 182 You want to know if I have touched myself. Sure, all girls have. 1973 Family Circle July 114/1 Little girls are told not to touch or play with themselves, and later their sexual parts are associated with urination and menstruation, which are considered ‘dirty’. |
b. To lay the hand upon (a diseased person) for the cure of the ‘king's evil’ or scrofula, as formerly practised by French and English sovereigns. Also absol.
| 1606 J. Melvill Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 657 The Royall ceremonie of tuiching of some diseased childrein for hailling off sume of the escrolles. 1660 Evelyn Diary 6 July, His Majestie began first to touch for the evil, according to costome. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4126/3 All Persons who shall..apply to be Touched, shall bring a Certificate. 1716 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 359 He said the King touched many for y⊇ Evil..and that they recovered. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1906) I. 17 His mother..carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. 1880 Dixon Windsor IV. xxxi. 298 The King began to touch for scrofula. |
c. Sc. Hist. referring to the touching of an Act of Parliament with the sceptre in token of the royal assent.
| 1694 Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) IV. 179 This act was not touched; and so the Lords thought they could not supply the royal assent, nor make it an act. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 186 He [William] had..suffered the law which abolished patronage to be touched with his sceptre. 1907 A. Lang Hist. Scot. IV. i. 3 Of the Acts passed by the Estates at this time, hardly one was ‘touched’ with the sceptre by the Commissioner. Ibid. ii. 29 He was to ‘touch’ and pass the Acts of 1689 for restoring Presbyterian preachers. |
d. Med. To examine by touch or feeling: see touch n. 1 c. Also absol.
| 1734 E. Hody W. Giffard's Cases Midwif. lxxxi. 192, I thought it proper to touch her. 1754–64 Smellie Midwif. III. 424 Upon touching I found the os uteri a little more dilated. |
e. To bring by touching into some condition.
| 1813 Montgomery World bef. Flood ii. 207 Time had but touch'd her form to finer grace. 1892 Tennyson Making of Man 4 Shall not æon after æon pass and touch him into shape? |
f. Rugby Football: = Touch down: see 30.
| 1864 Field 19 Nov. 354/2 When the ball is touched inside goal-line, must it be touched down dead? that is, is it fair touch if the ball move or roll afterwards? 1877 Ibid. 24 Feb. 220/1 Hutchinson..safely touched the ball behind the home team's line. |
g. absol. or intr. Of soldiers in the rank: To close up until the elbows are in contact.
| 1803 Dickinson Instr. Infantry 79 The leading man of the Front Rank..marks Time, the Rest wheel up to him, dressing by the Left, and touching lightly to the Right. 1877 Man. Field Artillery Exerc. 26 During the wheel, each man must touch lightly..towards the pivot flank. |
h. intr. for pass. (with descriptive extension): To ‘feel’ to the touch; to cause a specified sensation when touched.
| 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) IV. 575 We say this beast touches nicely upon its ribs. 1885 Jefferies Open Air (1890) 104 They touch rough—dusty rough, as books touch that have been lying unused. |
3. a. trans. To come into, or be in, contact with. (Expressing an involuntary act or state of a person or part of the body, or of an inanimate thing.)
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 190 He smote him in þe helm, bakward he bare his stroupe. Þe body he did ouerwhelm, his hede touched þe croupe. 1382 Wyclif Numb. xxxi. 19 Who sleeth a man, or a man sleyn touchith. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. vii. (Bodl. MS.), Quike siluer..cleueþ nouȝt to þinge þat it toucheþ. 1506 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 65 If the galye had ones towched the rok, we had ben all perysshed. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. iv. 10 The ends of their sailyards, whereof some were so long that they touched even the very water. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 385 Its touching the letters underneath may be prevented. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. viii. 263 Loose shingle..falls upon the ice where it touches the rocks. |
b. intr. or absol.: usually of two things, in reciprocal sense.
| 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 23 That no tree..drop vpon, or touch his fellowes... If they touch, the winde will cause a forcible rub. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 578 Those spheres..Touch, mingle, are transfigured. 1832 Tennyson Dream Fair Women 116 The bright death quiver'd at the victim's throat; Touch'd; and I knew no more. 1842 ― Talking Oak 131 So fleetly did she stir, The flower, she touch'd on, dipt and rose. Mod. Place them close together, but do not let them touch. |
4. a. trans. To be in contact with, or immediately adjacent to; to adjoin, border on; to skirt.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §5 Waite wel wher as thin Almury towcheth the bordure, & set ther a prikke of ynke. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 361 This State, touching the Apenine mountaines on the South, and the Adriatike Sea upon the North. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. viii, A part of the road where it touched the river. 1896 Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign x, The Transvaal border touches ours near Tuli. |
b. intr. † To be contiguous to (obs.); fig. to have mutual contact; (with upon) to succeed continuously.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vii. 80 The vale of Josaphathe, þat touchethe to the walles, as thoughe it were a large dyche. 1669 J. Flavel Husb. Spir. iii. iii. (1674) 211 There are several particulars in which this..design..and the pains of Husbandmen..do meet and touch. 1794 Paley Evid. i. ix. §4 (1817) 238 A series of writers touching upon one another. |
c. Geom. (trans.) Of a line (straight or curved) or a surface: To meet (another line or surface) at a point so that when produced it does not (ordinarily) intersect or ‘cut’ it at that point; to be tangent to. Also absol. or intr. in reciprocal sense.
(A straight line may exceptionally both touch and cut a curve or curved surface at the same point, viz. at a point of inflexion, where the curvature changes from convex to concave or vice versa. In some cases also two surfaces (e.g. a cylinder and a plane, or two cylinders) may touch along a line instead of at a single point. See tangent A. 1, B. 1 b.)
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid iii. def. ii. 81 A right line is sayd to touch a circle, which touching the circle and being produced cutteth it not. 1840 Lardner Geom. 52 The straight line joining the centres of circles which touch externally, must pass through their point of contact. 1885 Eagles Constr. Geom. Plane Curves 136 To describe an ellipse to touch five given lines. 1885 C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 147 An infinite number of conics can be drawn to touch a given straight line at a given point, and to touch two other given straight lines. |
5. To strike or hit lightly (esp. with the spur, or in Fencing); in quot. c 1550, to hit, beat. Also (rare) fig. in pa. pple., = touché b.
| a 1330 Otuel 84 Wiþ þat word þe kinges a non Touchede here stedes & made hem gon. c 1550 R. Wever Lusty Juventus D iij b, If thou tel not truth, I wil not be behind, To touch you as wel agayne. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. (S.T.S.) II. 181 As a noble horss tuechte with the spur is mair quik. 1809 Roland Fencing 124 At no time should you endeavour to touch your adversary while thrusting carte and tierce. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. iii, Achilles..touched the door with a rap, distinct at once and modest. 1853 E. Sewell Experience of Life xviii. 183 ‘I dislike this kind of bantering very much, Horatia,’ I said... Horatia laughed merrily. ‘Touched, I declare!’ |
6. To affect physically in some way by contact. a. To make an impression upon; to stain, scratch, abrade, corrode, decompose, etc.
touched with the tar-brush (fig.): see tar-brush b.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. xii. 40 (Harl. MS.) If ȝe hadde on your cloke, the reyne shuld not haue y-towchid your clothing. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. i. 3 So hard that a File will not touch it (as Smiths say when a File will not cut or race it). 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Silver, The Aqua Regalis, which dissolves Gold, will not touch Silver. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §1438 No file or cutting tool will ‘touch’ it. |
† b. intr. with upon, in same sense. Obs.
| a 1626 Bacon Phys. Rem. Wks. 1879 I. 245/1 For dissolution into liquor, we are to inquire..what will touch upon the one [metal] and not upon the other. |
c. trans. To magnetize by contact or rubbing with a magnet. ? Obs. (Cf. touch n. 11.)
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 12 The darke Compasse hath the points blacke and white, and the other onely touched for the true North and South. 1698 Ballard in Phil. Trans. XX. 418, I took my Knife, which had been formerly toucht..and profering it to the Needle, it drew the North Pole. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 13 The Loadstone,..tho' never so well touch'd, will often point from its true Pole. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Toucher un compas, to touch the needle of a compass with a magnet. 1795 Hutton Math. Dict. s.v. Magnet, This vertical way of touching a bar will not give it quite so much of the magnetic virtue. |
d. To apply some substance lightly to (a part of the body, etc.) by contact, esp. for medicinal purposes (const. with the substance); spec. (Med.) to touch the gums, to induce salivation, as by the use of mercury.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. vii. 147 Ile touch my point, With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, It may be death. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxvi. 332 The raw surface itself..touched with zinc ointment. 1893 W. R. Gowers Man. Dis. Nerv. Syst. (ed. 2) II. 358 The patient should be brought slightly..under its [i.e. mercury's] influence, so as just ‘to touch the gums’ as the phrase is. |
7. To affect injuriously in some physical way (e.g. by fire or frost), esp. in a slight degree; to communicate disease to by contagion, to infect, taint; also spec. in reference to a horse's ‘wind’ or breathing. (Usually in pa. pple.) Also (colloq.), pass., to be slightly affected by drink.
| 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 2 It is too late, the life of all his blood Is touch'd corruptibly. 1601 W. Leigh Soules Solace (1617) 7 When..he [Job] was toucht in his own person, so as his bone claue to his flesh. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1584/4 Lost.., A bright Bay Gelding,.. all his Paces,..his Wind touch'd. 1772 R. Graves Spir. Quix. (1820) I. 82 A horse which was touched in the wind. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxviii, An icy coldness touched her cheeks, and her fears for awhile overcame her judgment. 1834 C. Brontë My Angria & Angrians in W. Gérin C. Brontë (1967) vi. 84 Two bottles of..ale, and a double quart of Porter..and I'm not a bit touched—only light and smart and active. 1884 Roe Nat. Ser. Story ii, The plants that were touched with frost. 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xi. 180, I wasn't no ways drunk; but I must have been touched more or less, because I felt myself to be so sober. |
8. a. To test the fineness of (gold or silver) by rubbing it upon a touchstone (see touchstone 1); † fig. to test, try, make trial or proof of (obs.).
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 193 There the crounes were wayed and touched. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 100 A counterfeit Resembling Maiesty, which being touch'd and tride, Proues valuelesse. 1607 ― Timon iii. iii. 6 They haue all bin touch'd, and found Base-Mettle. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 136 They..then carry [the bars of Silver] to be touch'd and mark'd. 1908 H. B. Morse Trade Chinese Emp. 160 It is then ‘touched’ and the difference..from a certain standard, as indicated by the colour on the touchstone, is written on the other side. |
b. To mark (metal) as of standard purity, etc., with an official stamp, after it has been tested.
| 1423 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 257/1 That no..Man that werketh Selver Hernois, put noon therof to the sale..or [= ere] that it be touched wyth the touche of the Liberdisheed, that that may resonabli bere the touche. 1697 View Penal Laws 142 None shall put to sale any Silver Harness in London before it is touched. 1746–7 in Welch Hist. Pewterers' Co. (1902) II. 193 That all..wares capable of a large Touch shall be touched with a large Touch. 1772–3 Act 13 Geo. III, c. 52 §6, I will touch no silver but what shall be of the goodness of and according to the standard of this kingdom. 1852 A. Ryland Assay Gold & S. 72 The silver⁓smiths..were under great difficulties..for want of assayers in convenient places to assay and touch their plate. |
c. intr. for pass. To appear or prove to be of standard fineness on testing; to undergo or stand the test. lit. and fig. ? Obs.
| 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subject i. v, And now you are brought to th' test; touch right now, soldier, Now shew the manly pureness of thy mettle. 1701 Collier M. Aurel. 31 His honesty is right sterling, and touches as well as it looks. 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 81 These Lumps or Pieces are called Mountain-Gold; which being melted, touch better than Dust-Gold. |
9. a. trans. To strike the strings, keys, etc. of (a musical instrument) so as to make it sound; to play on, esp. to play a few notes on; to sound (a horn, a bell). [Cf. Fr. toucher la lyre, Sp. tocar la lira.] † Also intr. with on (quot. c 1470).
| c 1470 Henryson Orpheus & Eurydice 611 Than Orpheus our ressoun is full wo, And twichis on his harp. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop vi. vii, A fyssher..somtyme touched his bagpype nyhe the Ryuer for to make the fysshe to daunce. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 473 Instruments sound sweetest when they be touched softest. 1633 Massinger Guardian ii. iv, I'll touch my horn (Severino blows his horn): they know my call. 1697 Dryden Alex. Feast 22 Timotheus..With flying fingers touched the lyre. 1779 Mirror No. 43 ¶6 The organ was touched with a hand less firm. 1818 Peacock Melincourt xxi, Touch the bell for the waiter. 1830 Sir J. Barrington Pers. Sk. own Times (ed. 2) II. 164, I recollect Moore one night..touching the piano-forte in his own unique way. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. ix. 214 Having touched the piano, [he] was requested to sing. |
b. transf. To produce (musical sounds) by ‘touching’ an instrument; to play (an air).
| 1823 Scott Peveril xxx, A person in the royal retinue touched a light and lively air on the flageolet. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lix, Touching, to the best of her simple art, melancholy harmonies on the keys. 1848 Dickens Dombey xviii, Her low voice in the twilight, slowly and stopping sometimes, touched the old air to which he had so often listened. |
10. a. In drawing, painting, etc.: To mark, draw, delineate (a detail of the work) by touching the surface with the pencil, brush, etc.; also, to modify or alter by such touches. Hence transf. in literary composition. (See also touch in, 31, touch up, 34.)
| 1675 A. Browne App. Art of Limning 10 The next you touch the Tips of the Ears with the forementioned Temperature. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 22 The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right. 1780 Cowper Let. 2 July, To touch and retouch is..the secret of almost all good writing especially in verse. 1890 N. & Q. 7th Ser. X. 118/2 My impression [of the engraving] is unequal, being faint in some parts, very dark in others. If the plate was worn, it has been ‘touched’ afterwards. |
† b. intr. with upon: To add touches to, modify by touching, touch up. Obs.
| 1675 Bentley in Dryden's Mistaken Husb. To Rdr., If a great Master have but touch'd upon an ordinary Piece, he makes it of Value. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 219 A French painter who was suffered to alter and touch upon his pictures. |
c. fig. (trans.) To mark slightly or superficially with some colour or aspect: chiefly in pa. pple. Also said of the colour, etc.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xvii, Such heauenly touches nere toucht earthly faces. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xiii, The dawn had scarce begun to touch the distant horizon. 1847 L. Hunt Jar Honey xii. (1848) 158 The rock on the woody promontory..is touched with rose-colour. 1883 F. M. Peard Contrad. xix, A faint smile touched her lips as she wondered. |
11. a. intr. Of a ship, or those on board: To arrive and make a short stay in passing at a port or place on the way; to call in passing. Also transf. (of a traveller), and fig. Usually with at. Also in legal formula to touch and stay.
| 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 16 Many Shippys and galyes towche ther rather thanne at Parence. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xlii. 96 That in his way he should touch at the Ilande of S. Blaze. 1697 Dryden æneid vii. 29 Lest the Trojan's pious host Should bear, or touch upon th' inchanted coast. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 58 Whenever any ship touched at that port. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 59 For the Ships who frequently touch here. ? 1796 in Eng. Reports (1927) CLXX. 471 Liberty to sail to, touch and stay at any port or ports whatsoever on her passage out..without prejudice to the insurance. 1828 Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 206 We touched at Panaria..on account of its warm baths of which there are numerous vestiges. 1870 Kingsley in Gd. Words 203/1 Our own mail steamers..could as easily touch at Terceira now, as they did a few years since. 1895 W. Gow Marine Insurance iii. 59 The liberty to touch and stay is limited by its close application to the main object of the voyage. 1969 E. R. H. Ivamy Marine Insurance xiii. 142 It was formerly held that ‘liberty to touch and stay’ did not permit of trading at the port of call. |
b. trans. with the port or place as obj.: To land upon; to visit in passing; also transf. and fig.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 288 All these..With eight tall ships..meane to touch our Northerne shore. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 7 Supposing that they could not touch land in Sardegna. 1774 Johnson Let. to Boswell 26 Nov., Shall we touch the continent? 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xiv. 2 If one should bring me this report, That thou hadst touch'd the land to-day. |
** Physical, passing into non-physical.
12. a. To handle or have to do with in any or the slightest degree; to meddle or interfere with however slightly; to ‘lay a finger on’. (Usually with negative expressed or implied.)
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 192 Þat Adam & Eue..Shulde deye doune riȝte..If þat þei touched a tre, and þe fruite eten. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1337 All loste þe lyfe þat þe lede touchet. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 702 He so light was at legierdemaine, That what he toucht came not to light againe. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. ii. §1 Being conscientiously scrupulous, not to take or touch a thread which is none of our own. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 103 Five hundred Pounds..w{supc}{suph} he said he never did or would touch. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. xi. 345, I had never touched a card. |
b. spec. To lay hands on or meddle with so as to harm; to injure, hurt, in any or the least degree.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10369 In þe popes half he sede, ich uorbede..Þat no man ne touchi þulke clerc. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ix. 76 The Soudan hath do make a wall aboute the sepulcre, þat noman may towche it. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 300 The Lion will not touch the true Prince. 1716 Hearne Collect. V. 271 He stood [in the Pillory]..on Wednesday, and was not touch'd; but yesterday..he was pelted miserably. 1812 Ld. Wellington in Examiner 23 Nov. 742/2 No officer was touched. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vii. (1852) 204 The hand of violence must not touch them. 1888 Times (weekly ed.) 21 Dec. 4/2 Enemy in full retreat... No English officers touched. |
c. To take (food or drink); to ‘taste’: usually (with negative), not to take any at all. (Cf. L. tangĕre to touch, in this sense.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 466 That euyn full was þat fre and no fode touchet. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3346 Þe forsaide gose þai touched noȝt. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 98 He dies that touches any of this fruite, Till I, and my affaires are answered. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxi, If a spoonful of liquor were to cure me of a fever, I never touch a drop. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 191, I could not touch another drop, unless more of the gentlemen join me. |
† d. intr. with with, at, on: To meddle with, have to do with (slightly or at all); to deal with cursorily (quot. 1693); to come into contact with.
| a 1656 Bp. Hall Revelation Unrev. viii, That they ever offered to touch with any either secular or sacred business, we never find. 1693 Locke Educ. §175 Studies which a Gentleman should not barely touch at, but constantly dwell upon. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 29 He will never touch at a great Proposal; nor run any generous Hazards for his Friends or Country. 1701 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. II. 63 But they refused to touch with it unless it was intirely surrendered to ym [them]. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 214 Our purity is of so delicate a complexion, that it scarce touches on the world without contracting a stain. |
13. a. trans. To get or go as far as; to reach, attain (lit. and fig.).
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 285 And with hir hed she touched hevene. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 223, I haue touch'd the highest point of all my Greatnesse. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 82 ¶1 Mr. William Peer [an actor] distinguished himself particularly in two characters, which no man ever could touch but himself. 1842 Tennyson Vision of Sin 23 The music touch'd the gates and died. 1864 ― En. Ard. 57 Ere he touch'd his one-and-twentieth May. 1883 Manch. Exam. 3 Dec. 4/1 The price, after touching 88, fell back on French sales to 86. |
b. fig. To attain equality with, ‘come up to’, rival, compare with. colloq.
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist xliii, Is there one of you that could touch him or come near him on any scent? 1902 V. Jacob Sheep-Stealers viii, I thought there was nothing that could touch that mare of mine. |
† c. intr. with to, in same sense. Obs.
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 198 Tyl there were rysen a starre..that myght with hys heate touche to the heate of the sonne. |
14. a. intr. with at, to, on, upon (also absol.): To approach closely, draw very near; to verge upon; † in quot. 1615, to resemble closely (obs.).
| 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 75 Thus seknes growyng, and age of an hundred ȝere touching, he was in party compelled for to passe fro þis lif. 1615 Chapman Odyss. i. 326 Thy forehead and fair eyes at his form touch. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 116 During the course of a political life just touching to its close. 1801 Lusignan IV. 224 Brother Ambrose touches at that dreadful hour, which delivers us to the sentence of an incorruptible judge! 1819 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 315 He sometimes touched on the very verge of meanness. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. iv. iii, At length the time touched upon dinner. |
b. Naut. (trans.) To keep as close to (the wind) as the vessel will sail. Also absol.
| 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlvi. 54 Syne treveiss still, and lay abowt, And gar hir top twiche wind and waw. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 37 Touch the wind, and warre no more, is..to bid him at the Helme to keepe her so neere the wind as may be. 1692 Ibid. i. xvi. 76 In keeping the Ship near the Wind, these terms are used,..Veer no more,..touch the Wind. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 85 Keep your eye on the weather leech of the sails, and just keep them touching. |
15. trans. To take in the hand, take, receive, draw (money) [cf. F. toucher de l'argent (16th c. in Littré)]; sometimes, to get by underhand means; hence (Thieves' cant), to steal. Also absol. Now chiefly slang or colloq.
| 1654 in Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 153 He will give you a good account of Mr. Lovell and that he hath touched..over {pstlg}1000 sterling to his owne use. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. Fasti 859 Out of which, he had, I think, 1000 l., which, with 200 l. more, was all he touched in the said 19 years. 1720 Swift Elegy on Demar 27 He touch'd the pence when others touch'd the pot. 1758 Smollett Hist. Eng. III. ii. vii. 82 For secret service money during the last ten years the Earl of Orford had touched {pstlg}1,453,400 of public money. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxii, I proved the [will]..at Doctors' Commons, and touched the whole of her money. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxxi, The..matrimonial arrangement is concluded (the agent touching his percentage). [1898 Bodley France II. iii. v. 238 The average annual ministerial salaries touched by French legislators.] |
16. a. To fee, ‘tip’, bribe, tamper with. ? Obs.
| 1752 Fielding Amelia xi. iv, He had heard that the great man must be touched; for he never did anything without touching. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 95 Mr. N―..having 'scaped the Servants..without touching one of them. 1770 Foote Lame Lover iii. Wks. 1799 II. 84 The court may proceed... But..I hope no gentleman has been touch'd on both sides. |
b. To ‘come down upon’, ‘get at’, or ‘tap’ (a person) for money, to succeed in getting money from, to obtain a loan or gift of money from (colloq.); also, to rob (thieves' cant); in Austral. slang, to swindle, cheat.
| 1760 C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) II. 43, I am quite broke up; his grace has touched me for five hundred. 1807 H. Tufts in E. Pearson Autobiogr. of Criminal (1930) ii. iv. 293 Touching a cly, robbing a pocket. 1809 E. S. Barrett Setting Sun III. 105 If you could get me a commission, I could touch Dad for a few hundreds. 1888 in Farmer & Henley Slang (1903) VII. 177/1 A dip [sc. pick⁓pocket] touched the Canadian sheriff for his watch and massive chain while he was reading the Riot Act. 1898 Tit-Bits 21 May 139/3 Well, old boy, I've just touched Reggy for another tenner. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 8/1 L.'s going to touch the public to a pretty tune for this. 1928 [see knock v. 15 d]. 1950 Austral. Police Jnrl. Apr. 110 To touch a person is to steal from him, but to touch him for a loan is to ask him for one. 1951 G. Greene End of Affair v. iv. 197 ‘If you would lend me a pound.’.. Had she ‘touched’ Henry once too often? 1963 T. Parker Unknown Citizen i. 32 He wants some money... Don't you send it to him, let him touch somebody else for a change. |
c. To lay hold upon, to arrest.
| 1791 O'Keeffe Wild Oats ii. i, Knock [at his door], and when he comes out touch him. |
*** Non-physical senses.
17. a. trans. To apprehend, succeed in getting at, ‘hit’, hit upon; to guess or state correctly. ? Obs.
| c 1325 in Rel. Ant. I. 292 Thu tuchest nowt the notes [in singing], thu bites hem on sonder. 13.. Cursor M. 18940 (Cott.) Als gaf to þaim þe haligast Alkin wiit to tuche and tast. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 194 There you toucht the life of our designe. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iii. (1841) I. 58 O you have touched it! there it lies. 1797 Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Old Wom. T. (1799) I. 380 He had at length, then, touched the point of truth. |
† b. intr. with at: To succeed in hearing, to ‘catch’. Obs.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xix. 77 Hard it is, in such a great concourse (Though hearers' ears be ne'er so sharp) to touch at all things spoke. |
18. a. trans. To speak or write of, treat of, mention, tell, relate; now always, to mention briefly, casually, or in passing; to refer to, allude to. Now rare or arch.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1437 Þenne towched to þe tresour [= treasurer] þis tale watz sone. 1380 Lay Folks Catech. (Lamb. MS.) 266 The secunde part of þis Crede..towchis xiiij artyculis. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. 1 (Harl. MS.) And shortly for to touche þis mater; he tooke his leve. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xi. 91 b, I will not forgette to touch the manner of the apparrell. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 67, I shall come to touch how to make a good Shot. a 1704 T. Brown Sat. agst. Wom. 120 Nor shall I touch their secret murders. 1895 Gladstone Psalter 170 Subjects specially touched in particular passages of the Psalms. a 1903 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Last Hope v, She gave a curt laugh, as if he had touched a topic upon which they would disagree. |
b. intr., usually with † of, † at (obs.), on, upon, in same sense. Now the more usual construction.
| c 1320 Cast. Love 1309 Sumwhat touchen Ichulle fonde Of þat Ich may vnderstonde. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxx. 303 The roundenesse of the erthe, of the whiche I haue towched to ȝou of before. 1549 [see 26]. 1573 L. Lloyd Marrow of Hist. (1653) 39 To omit..to touch any more of women. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 139, I thought good to touch at this Asian luxurie. 1638 R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 39 One cannot touch upon any point where he is not ready for you. 1665 J. Sergeant Sure Footing 85 We will briefly touch at some of the Advantages which those Assistances..give the Church. 1746 Wesley Answ. Ch., Princ. Methodist 8 To touch only on what seems of the most Importance. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 5 He touches on the same difficulties and he gives no answer to them. 1883 Manch. Guard. 22 Oct. 5/2 The matter was touched upon in a general way at the Leeds Conference. |
† 19. a. trans. (? fig. from 5.) To take to task, rebuke, reprove, censure; to charge, accuse. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 142 Yf we be touched with a sharpe worde, we shal yelde a benigne & gentyll answere. 1570 Darrell Papers in H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age (1886) App. 248 Sur Water Hungerfo, and his brother hathe touched me in iij thinges. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. (S.T.S.) II. 474 Gif tha tuouche ouer scharplie, tha be suspected of Jnuious persounis. 1643 5 Years K. James I in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 306 He is stung with fear to be touched with Overbury's death. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1687) I. xxii. 307 Our Saviour..touched Martha for being troubled about many things. |
b. With mixture of senses: To say something apt or telling about, esp. in censure; to ‘hit’ by some apt or smart saying. Also to touch to the quick (cf. 25 b).
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Scottes 86 Thalia, my Muse, for you also call I, To touche them with tauntes of your armony. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke x. 92 b, The Pharisee beeyng somewhat touched with y⊇ aunswer of our Lorde,..woulde not acknowelage his owne faulte. a 1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias Prol., In commedies the greatest skill is this, rightly to touche All thinges to the quick. 1693 Humours Town A vj, If, therefore any find themselves touch'd, they ought to make a Right Use of it. 1733 Pope Hor. Sat. ii. i. 41 Ev'n those you touch not, hate you. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xxxiii, ‘Marry, you touch me there’, said the centurion. |
20. a. trans. To pertain or relate to; to have bearing upon; to be the business of; to concern. Obs. or arch. (passing into next sense).
| a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 52 b, That þer ne passe no writ..vnder þe kinges lutele seal þat tuchi þe commune lawe. c 1350 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 349 Þinges þat toucheþ the rewle of þe town. 1428 Surtees Misc. (1888) 7 Yis mater touched all ye gude men of ye consell. 1535 Coverdale Eccl. xii. 14 Feare God, and kepe his comaundementes, for that toucheth all men. 1697 Bentley Phal. (1699) 128 [These] Arguments touch only those particular Epistles. 1883 Manch. Guard. 22 Oct. 5/3 This..touches us not as Liberals or Conservatives, but as citizens. |
† b. intr. with to, unto, upon, in same sense.
| c 1325 Poem times Edw. II (Percy Soc.) xxxix, Ȝut ther is another craft That towcheth to clergy. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 225 That oght unto my ladi toucheth. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 220 The offence touchis to the realme, and to the citee anerly of thair propre burges. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxcv. 682 [It was] the duke of Lancastre, to whome the matere moost touched. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) 104 This may a litle touch upon his Father in Law, my Lord Chancell{supr}. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxiv, Ne'er a man should steer a hair touching to Monkbarns while Steenie and I could wag a finger. |
c. To have affinity with. † intr. with at (obs.), or trans. (obs. or arch. exc. as directly fig. from 3 or 4).
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxi. 103 None now of all the brood of Troy..shall any breath enjoy.., specially that touch at Priam's race. 1774 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 505 To secure the attendance of those whom they touched the most nearly. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. v. 6 He never identified himself with any school of religious thought, though he touched them all. |
21. trans. To be felt as the concern of or important to; to be a matter of moment to; to affect, make a difference to.
| c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 1177 It tuichis myne honour sa neir. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 16 §8 That this Acte..in no wise extend to ne touche the warde ne mariage of Henry Erle of Essex. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxv. 136 A thynge.. which herafter may sore touche the Countrey of Flaunders. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. ii. 54 His Curses and his blessings Touch me alike: th' are breath I not beleeue in. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xxi. 156 Till the publication of penny newspapers a few years ago the position of the Provincial Press was hardly touched. |
† 22. To produce an impression on, strike, impress (the senses, or organs of sense). Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1668 Bright Aumbur, þat..smellis full swete, With taste for to touche the tabull aboute. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 76 If..any ayre of musicke touch their eares. 1607 ― Cor. ii. i. 61 If the drinke you giue me, touch my Palat aduersly, I make a crooked face at it. 1629 Milton Morn. Christ's Nativity, Hymn xiii, Ring out ye Crystall sphears, Once bless our human ears, (If ye have power to touch our senses so). 1667 ― P.L. ix. 987. |
23. a. To affect mentally or morally, to imbue with some quality; in bad sense, to infect, taint (cf. 7). Also predicated of the quality. Usually in pa. pple.
| 13.. Cursor M. 11328 (Cott.) Þis symeon þat had his tast Toched o þe hali gast. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 897 For neuer lesyng ne tale vntrwe Ne towched her tonge for no dysstresse. a 1568 So Fremmit is my Fortoun 14 in Bannatyne Poems (Hunter. Cl.) 717 Hairtles I am, for slewth twichis me so. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 366, I thanke God, I am not a Woman to be touch'd with so many giddie offences as hee [my uncle] hath generally tax'd their whole sex withal. 1640–1 Sir B. Rudyard Sp. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) IV. 167 The Scots being truly touched with Religion, according to their Profession. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cix. 10 High nature amorous of the good, But touch'd with no ascetic gloom. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Byron (1878) 211 Byron was touched by the same fire. |
b. pass. To be deranged mentally in a slight degree; in pa. pple. slightly insane or crazy, ‘cracked’. Also in phr. touched in the head or the upper story.
| [1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 51 With that opinion That I am touch'd with madnesse.] 1704 Steele Lying Lover v. iii, Pray mind him not, his Brain is touch'd. 1705 Vanbrugh Confed. v. ii, You see master's a little—touched, that's all. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 292 He thought he was a little touched, or insane. 1867 Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xx. 172 We tried to get him through as being a little touched in the upper story. 1873 Miss Thackeray Old Kensington xxviii, What an extraordinary creature poor Sarah is! touched, certainly. 1902 E. Nesbit Five Children & It ii. 61 Touched in the head, eh?.. All the more shame to you boys dragging the poor afflicted child into your sinful burglaries. |
24. a. To affect with some feeling or emotion; to move or stir the feelings of; to produce an emotion in; spec. to affect with tender feeling, as pity or gratitude. Const. with.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 2 Þe mynd towchede with þe souerayne swettnes. c 1500 Three Kings Sons 188 He thought it touchid hir hert somwhat. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 119 [He] heareth a buzzing sound in his eares, but is neuer truly toucht in his heart. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §50. 277 It is inhumanity not to be touched with others needs. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 11 ¶7, I was so touch'd with this Story..that I left the Room with Tears in my Eyes. 1833 Tennyson Poems 133 That man, of all the men I ever knew, Most touched my fancy. 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, Nil nisi bonum 227, I can't say how much the thought of that fidelity has touched me. |
b. With the feeling as subject; in pass. const. with the feeling.
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 371 They are neither touched with the gilt of conscience, nor haue given none any occasion of displeasure. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xii. 70, I know this touches you with a strong inclination to it. 1718 Pope Iliad xxi. 105 If ever yet soft pity touch'd thy mind. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. ix, Then, touched with pity and remorse, He sorrowed o'er the expiring horse. |
c. To influence, move (in mind or will).
| 1570 T. Wilson Demosth. Orat., Life 127 As for corrupting him wyth giftes or rewardes, he is no more to be touched that way, than was Aristides. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 45 No Decree of mine Concurring to necessitate his Fall, Or touch with lightest moment of impulse His free Will. |
25. a. To grieve, vex; to injure, harm: esp. in a slight degree. ? Obs. (or merged in 23). Cf. 5.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 262 As ressone wald, it tuechit him full soir. 1581 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 401 Be the violatioun and brek of the same his Hienes is sumquhat twitchit and offendit unto. 1608 Yorks. Trag. i. ii, Shall I stand idle And see my reputation touch'd to death? |
b. To hurt or wound in mind or feelings, as if by touching a sore or tender part; to irritate, sting, nettle. Often in fig. phrases, as touch to the quick. (Cf. 5, 19 b.)
| 1589 Love & Fort. A ij b, He hath been lately rubde and toucht perhaps too neere. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 85 They touched the ministers of iustice to the quicke. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 99 ¶7 Telling a Man he lyes, is touching him in the most sensible Part of Honour. 1820 Hogg Tales & Sk., Bridal of P. II. 66 He feared it would be..touching the king upon the sore heel. 1898 J. Arch Story of Life xi. 257 It touched scores and scores of labourers on the raw. |
II. Phrases.
26. a. Phrases with other verbs or ns. touch and go: to touch for an instant and immediately go away or pass on; to deal with momentarily or slightly. (See also touch and go n. and a.)
| 1549 Latimer 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 26 As the text doeth ryse, I wyl touche and go a lyttle in euery place, vntyl I come vnto to much. 1600 Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 446 Therefore it shall be enough for me, now to touch and go. c 1670 in Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 486 A Taylor in the Strand..Most finely was Trappan'd, touch and go. |
b. touch and run: see touch n. 1 g.
27. touch and take: in various senses (see above and take v.); in quot. 1793, to take fire at a touch.
| 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 14 One blinded with a Cloth serv'd every Man as they were called to touch and take. 1793 Regal Rambler 40 Our hero laid in a large cargo of fresh fuel, ready to touch and take like phosphorus. 1805 Nelson Let. to J. D. Thomson 5 Sept., The Enemy have a shoal of frigates with their fleet and other Small Vessels, which will take their Crippled Ships in Tow. My Motto shall be Touch and Take. |
28. In comb. with n. to touch one's hat: to raise the hand to the hat and touch it in token of salutation (an abbreviated form of the act of taking off or raising the hat). Const. to (the person saluted).
| 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vii. ix, And, touching his hat, he was riding away. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 149 Not a stage coach-man..but touches his hat as he passes. 1840 Haliburton Letter Bag iv. 54 We bow and touch our hats with much formality. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i, So Mr. Grimes touched his hat to him. |
29. In to touch wood. a. In a children's game: see quots. 1849, 1888. b. In folk-lore, or quasi-superstitious use: To touch wood as a charm to avert apprehended misfortune, esp. that apt to follow untimely boasting or self-gratulation: cf. L. absit omen! (omen n., quot. 1637).
| 1849 Boy's Own Bk. 37 This..game [touch n. 1 g] is sometimes called ‘Touch-iron’ or ‘Touch-wood’; in these cases the players are safe only while they touch iron or wood, as may be previously agreed. They are liable to be touched only when running from one piece of wood or iron to another. 1888 Berksh. Gloss., Touch 'ood. Boys have games called ‘touch 'ood’ and ‘touch-iron’, where anyone not touching either of the substances named is liable to be caught by the one standing out and has to stand out accordingly. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 30 Dec. 2/3 On the next occasion when we read of Christmas with spring weather or of the changing seasons we shall ‘touch wood’. |
III. In combination with adverbs.
30. touch down. a. Rugby Football, Amer. Football, etc. trans. To touch the ground with (the ball) behind the goal, usually that of the opposing side; also absol. See also touchdown.
| 1864 Field 5 Nov. 331/1 The Old Rugbeians..soon touched the ball down in the School goal. 1864 [see touch v. 2 f]. 1882 Standard 20 Nov. 2/8 The Military had..to touch-down several times in self-defence. 1891 Football: Rugby Union Laws §19 A Maul in Goal is when the ball is held inside the goal line and one of the opposing sides endeavours to touch it down. 1897 Sportsman 16 Dec., [B.] took a shot at goal..but the ball went wide and J. touched down. |
b. Aeronaut. intr. To alight on the ground from the air; to land; also transf. Also (rare) trans., to land (an aircraft).
| 1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance 41 M'Intosh touched her down. 1938 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 498 A successful flight down the beam..gives the feeling that if the ceiling had been only 50 feet one could have held on..longer before finally touching down. 1942 P. Brennan et al. Spitfires over Malta (1943) ii. 55, I touched down and swung my aircraft away from the pitted landing path, braking violently. 1955 Times 22 Aug. 5/4 The first aircraft to touch down brought an official party from Kallang. 1962 Listener 8 Feb. 260/2, I send this dove from the ark Where she must never touch down. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon xiv. 369 At 12.45 a.m. Houston time, Apollo 12's lunar module Intrepid touched down on the moon. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 1 Apr. e9/1 14 persons were injured when a tornado touched down near Glasgow, Ky. |
31. touch in. trans. In drawing, painting, etc.: To insert (a detail) by touching with the pencil, brush, etc.
| 1871 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Oct. 615 The dry leaves in the hedges..may be touched in with burnt sienna. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 262 Touching in as small a portion of top edge as possible. |
32. touch off. trans. a. To represent exactly, to ‘hit off’ (cf. 17); also to touch it off, to do exactly right, hit the mark exactly; in quot. 1766, to ‘take the measure of’ correctly, ‘size up’; hence to be a match for (obs.).
| 1758–65 Goldsm. Ess. i. ¶5, I was [told]..that I should now see something touched off to a nicety, for Mr. Spriggins was going to give us ‘Mad Tom’ in all its glory. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xii, I knew you would touch them off. 1821 Galt Ayrshire Legatees viii, He's such a funny man! and touches off the Londoners to the nines. |
b. To fire off (a cannon, etc.), orig. by putting a match to the touch-hole. Hence fig., to provoke (a reaction), to spark off.
| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxviii. 282 It does seem most like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off. 1907 Daily Chron. 6 Dec. 7/3 The only delay..is due to a fear that a dispatch of the troops will touch off the magazine. a 1934 in Webster s.v., These terms..have become push buttons which touch off emotional reflexes. 1943 Sun (Baltimore) 12 Feb. 6/2 Senator Truman touched off the debate with a speech in which he assailed the supplanting of Lou Holland as chairman of the SWPC. 1950 N.Y. Times 20 Apr. 1/6 The surprise proposal..touched off several outbursts of denunciation of the Soviet action. 1958 Listener 29 Nov. 813/1 The Bundestag declaration has touched off a chain-reaction of inquiry, proposal, examination, plan. 1966 Ibid. 10 Feb. 221/2 All these insights the piano touched off with its single hollow note struck over and over again. 1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 5c/1 A $1·8 million error may touch off a legal challenge. |
33. touch out. trans. To clean out (corners) by touches or light strokes, as in wood-carving.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 71/2 Tools..for fancy work, and for touching out corners difficult of access. |
34. touch up. a. trans. To improve, finish, or modify by adding touches or light strokes.
| 1715 Addison Freeholder No. 44 ¶3 What he saw was..her natural Countenance, touched up with the usual Improvements of an aged Coquette. 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 173 All the illuminated Sets were..touch'd up and finish'd by his own Hand. 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, Screens, Suppose the Editor..never ‘touched up’ one single line of the contribution. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 277 It is touched up, but it is for the most part quite trustworthy. |
b. To stimulate by striking lightly or sharply, as with a whip; hence fig. to remind, ‘to gently jog the memory’ (Farmer Slang). Also, to exert influence upon; to rouse the emotions of.
| 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 34 (Single Stick) Maslen set to with great confidence, sharply touching up the right arm of his antagonist. 1811 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. III. iv. 88 We must touch up the Colonel to do something to the Parsonage. 1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington I. iii. 55 You will see..how cleverly I will get myself out of the scrape with her. I know how to touch her up. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxii, He let out his whip-lash and touched up a little boy on the calves of his legs. 1846 ― Let. 28 Mar. (1977) IV. 528, I hope you mean to go to the General Theatrical Fund Dinner on Monday Week... Let me know, that I may touch up the Committee to place you near me. c 1863 T. Taylor in M. R. Booth Engl. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 140 The roughs adore music..and as for sentiment and sensation, if you could hear Miss St. Evremond touch them up with the ‘Maniac's Tear’, the new sensation ballad [etc.]. 1884 E. W. Hamilton Diary 10 Mar. (1972) II. 573 Slavery is a matter which specially touches up the British public. 1902 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Stronger than Love viii, She touched up the ponies, and brought them over the bridge..at a great pace. |
c. † (a) (See quot. 1785.) Obs. (b) To finger or caress so as to excite sexually. slang.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., To touch up a woman, to have carnal knowledge of her. 1903 [see sense 2 a above]. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 318 To touch up a woman, caramboler une femme. 1961 H. S. Turner Something Extraordinary vii. 135 She..went in for a crass practice..known as ‘touching up’. It is..a quick flick, in passing, from the crotch upwards... When a girl ‘touches up’ a boy it seems to be a very casual signal,..nowhere near a definite proposition. 1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London iii. 49 They would often try to move on from kissing to sexual play: as they put it, they..went up her skirt or ‘touched her up’. 1973 C. Egleton Seven Days to Killing iv. 48 Good-looking tart... I wouldn't have minded her touching me up. |
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). to touch base: to meet with or talk to a person (esp. only briefly); to make brief contact; also in extended use. Freq. with with.
| 1918 F. Palmer Amer. in France viii. 81 He had touched base at every desk in Headquarters without ever having a chance to discuss the war situation. 1948 Washington Post 4 Nov. 1/6 The Secretary is expected home from Paris soon to touch base with the President. 1989 P. Mayle Year in Provence (1990) 68 Just thought I'd touch base with you. 1992 N.Y. Times 23 Aug. i. 27/1 We think black folks have a need to touch base with something black. 2006 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 22 Apr. b1 They were always checking in, always touching base to make sure the other was safe and sound. |