▪ I. touse, n. dial.
(taʊz, taʊs)
[f. touse v.]
1. Rough pulling about, horse-play; a ‘row’, commotion, uproar; an outcry, a fuss.
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad iv. 173 Let's have no more touse. 1802 ― Middlesex Elect. ii. vi, Amongst the derty, lowzy crew, There's zich a touse and hallibulloo. 1835–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 28 Marm Lecain makes such an eternal touss about her carpets. 1882 Jago Cornwall Gloss., Touse, fuss, row, uproar, hurry. ‘Making such a touse’. |
2. A tousled mass: in quot. of hair.
| 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet v. 43 With a touse of lint-white locks blowing out in the gusts. |
▪ II. touse, v. Now rare.
(taʊz)
Forms: (3 to-tuse, 4–5 be-touse), 6–7 towse, 6–8 touze, towze, 6– touse, 8–9 Sc. and north. dial. toose (tuz).
[The simple vb. is known only from c 1509; but the compounds with be- and to- are found in ME. from c 1300, pointing to an unrecorded OE. *t{uacu}sian, ME. t{uacu}sen, tousen, cognate with OHG. -zûsôn in zir-zûsôn to pull to pieces, MHG. er-zûsen, er-zousen, Ger. zausen; also LG. (EFris.) tûsen to pull or shake about, tease, treat roughly, NFris. tuuse to pull by the hair:—OTeut. vb. stem *tū̆s-, closely allied in sense to *tais-, whence tease and toze.]
1. trans. To pull roughly about; to drag or push about; to handle roughly; of a dog: to tear at, worry.
| [c 1300 Havelok 1948 Bernard sone ageyn [him] nam Al to⁓tused and al to-torn. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 12944 Thei were alle thorow wet... Al be-rayned and be-toused.] 1509 Hawes Conv. Swearers xii, Beholde my body with blody proppes endewed..Towsed and tugged with othes cruelly. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 83 b, There was a Dog..which at the first dash or onset..daunted and toused the Lyon. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xi. 33 As a Beare, whom angry curres have touzd. 1633 Heywood Eng. Trav. ii. Wks. 1874 IV. 26 The Cooke..did so Towse them and Tosse them, so Plucke them and Pull them. 1736 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) I. 556 To Court, where we were touz'd and hunched about to make room for citizens in their fur gowns. 1869 Peacock Lonsdale Gloss., Touze, to tug or pull about. 1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 66 When she used to sing and pirouette And touse the tambourine. |
† b. To pull out of joint, to rack. Obs. rare.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 313 To th' racke with him: we'll towze you Ioynt by ioynt, but we will know his purpose. |
† c. To pull (a woman) about rudely, indelicately, or in horse-play; to tousle. Obs.
| 1623 Massinger Bondman i. iii, They are rough, Boisterous, and saucy, and at the first sight Ruffle and touze us. 1638 Ford Fancies iii. iii, He towzes the lady-sisters as a tumbling dog does young rabbits. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey xvi. 105 Maids tous'd ill-favouredly. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 93 And she..Still gave him leave o towze her. 1751 Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless I. 71 He..began to kiss and touze me so, that..I was frighted almost out of my wits. |
2. To disorder, dishevel (the hair, dress, etc.); to tumble, rumple (bed-clothes, sheets, etc.).
| 1598 Florio, Sparpagliare, to desheuell, to vnkembe, to touze a womans haire. 1647 Stapylton Juvenal 215 Though her..hair be tows'd, her face and eares do glow. 1682 D'Urfey Butler's Ghost 149 A Rampant shaver,..with licentious hands does touze The Bridal Vesture of your Spouse. 1693 Congreve Old Bach. iv. viii, Oh the most inhumane barbarous Hackney-Coach! I am jolted to a Jelly!—Am I not horribly touzed? 1912 R. Macdonald First of Ebb xi, Upon the lap of Clothilde..lay the toused, sleeping poll of the little Antoinette. |
3. fig. To abuse or maltreat in some way compared to the literal senses. Now rare or Obs.
| 1530 Tindale Answ. More iii. xiii. Wks. (1573) 311/1 There he biteth, sucketh, gnaweth, towseth, and mowseth Tyndall. 1593 Drayton Eclogues i. 59 Fortune, the World that towzes to and fro. 1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 86 Hee hath rowsed her in her Death-bed; now hee runnes backe 70. yeeres, to towse her in her Cradle. c 1680 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism i. Wks. 1716 I. 37 If they get a piece of a Text by the end..they do so tear it, and towze it, and towzer it..that they lose themselves. 1844 Blackw. Mag. LVI. 212 Invite especially those that have hitherto tightly toused, mocked, and scorned thee. |
† 4. To tease (wool); = toze v.1 1. Obs.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 4 Deuising beetles, hackels, wheeles, and frame, Wherwith to bruse, touse, spin, and weaue the same. 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xxxviii. I. 259 They let the wooll lie to take the liquor..: then they have it forth, touse, and card it. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Towz or Toze Wooll, is to Card or dress it. |
† 5. intr. To touse each other, tussle; also fig.; in quot. 1607, to pull things about in disorder, rummage. Obs.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 25 While she & I be touzyng & topplyng together. 1606 Ford Hon. Tri. (1843) 16, I touze to gaine me fame and reputation. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe iii. Wks. 1873 III. 41 Sondry times shee..opend her chests, touz'd among her linnen. 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. i. i, To see a pretty Wench and a young Fellow touze and rouze and frouze and mouze. |
Hence toused (taʊzd) ppl. a., ˈtousing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| a 1550 Jack Juggler (1873) 66, I haue forgotten with tousing by the here, What I deuised to say a lytle ere. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 Hee noted Aeneas his touzd-tost nauye to wander. 1682 A. Behn City Heiress 21 Be sawcy, forward, bold, towzing, and lewd. 18.. Moore Moral Positions iii, To guard the frail package from tousing and routing. 1912 Toused [see sense 2]. |