touchy, a.
(ˈtʌtʃɪ)
Also 7 tutchie.
[f. touch n. or v. + -y; but in sense 1 perh. an alteration of tetchy.]
1. Easily moved to anger; apt to take offence on slight cause; highly sensitive in temper or disposition; irascible, irritable, testy, tetchy.
| 1605 King Leir & Daughters D j, She breeds yong bones, And that is it makes her so tutchy sure. 1619 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iii. ii, Y'are touchie without all cause. a 1652 Brome Queen i. iv, Ther's the old tutchie testie Lord. 1656 H. Jeanes Fuln. Christ 79 If earthly Potentates be so tender, and touchy in the point of their Embassadours honour and safety. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. i. ii. (1852) 50 Avoid all discoveries of a touchy humour. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. I. i. viii. 170 She was most touchy upon the subject of age. 1903 G. H. Birch Lond. on Thames ii. 18 The citizens wanted no foreigners—they were always very touchy on that subject. |
2. Sensitive to touch; physically irritable.
Quot. 1618 perh. belongs rather to 1.
| 1618 Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry xiv. 57, I perceiued her to bee very tutchie and coy to bee handled. 1658 A. Fox Würtz' Surg. i. vi. 25 As often as a vein or sinew is toucht..is a new pain caused; for they are very touchy and full of sense. 1710 T. Fuller Pharm. Extemp. 209 Those whose Guts being wove up of fine-spun Fibrillæ, are touchy and irritable. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xi. xv, Jarring the touchy part of your elbow against the edge of the table. 1888 [see touch-me-not 1 b]. |
b. Taking fire when touched with a spark; easily ignited.
In quots. 1660 and 1766 combining this sense and 1.
| 1660 [implied in touchiness 1]. 1679 Phil. Collect. XII. 7 Our Colliers assure me that those touchy Works which are continually apt to take Fire, do it most..in the Winter. 1766 Goody Two-Shoes iv. (1882) 111 You are both as touchy as Tinder, and very often make your own House too hot to hold you. |
3. Ticklish, risky, precarious; not to be touched without danger. (Cf. 2 b.)
| 1620 Wotton in Reliq. (1672) 500 In such a touchy time as this, I had almost had my share. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. vi. (1739) 36 It is a touchy thing to have to do with fire, lest it get too high. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 53 You are upon a touchy Point, and therefore I hope you will treat so nice a Subject..with proportionable Caution. 1884 Graphic 15 Nov. 518/2 These were, of course, very touchy subjects to ask of courtiers. |
4. Painting, Drawing, etc. Characterized by or composed of distinct touches or light strokes.
| 1820 Examiner No. 651. 634/1 One of the prime beauties..is its extensiveness of touchy marking, whereby in all the parts the eye is most satisfactorily entertained. 1826 Ibid. 342/1 Indifferent anatomical drawing and a want of touchy pencilling. 1839 Chatto & Jackson Wood Engraving viii. 649 The drawing, which originally may have been clear and touchy, loses its brightness, and becomes indistinct from its frequent contact with the soft pliable paper. |
5. Involving a mere light touch. nonce-use.
| 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xiv, As if some gentle hand had..dipped them—just a tiny touchy dip, in a molten ruby. |
† 6. ‘Touched’ or slightly affected in the head; slightly crazed or crack-brained, ‘cranky’: in Comb. touchy-headed.
| 1666 J. Smith Old Age To Rdr. A iij b, The Author..is himself as willing, as any touchy-headed Decryers of Anatomy and Anatomists..that all the shame..should return upon his own pate. 1675 E. Wilson Spadacrene Dunelmensis Pref. 17 Those touchy headed Chymists, who pretend to Panacæa's, Universal Medicines, Secrets, and such like whimsical Remedies. |
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▸ Of a person: given to touching others, tactile. Chiefly in touchy-feely adj. (also occas. touchie-feelie) orig. U.S. displaying, or encouraging in others, an uninhibited sharing of thoughts and emotions, freq. associated with physical touching, hugging, etc., as the basis of relationships; characteristic of or relating to such behaviour. Freq. depreciative.
| 1968 N.Y. Times 20 Aug. 25/7 They have been dubbed the ‘touchy-feely’ groups, since their training involves touching and holding hands. 1981 D. A. Martin & P. Mullen No Alternative ii. 20 The touchy-feely element is symbolized in the easy tactility of the Kiss of Peace. 1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 31 May 21/2 The utopian and ‘touchy-feely’ use of the word ‘community’ (deriving from the intimacy of small groups meeting for discussion or living together) can give an outsider the creeps. 1995 Daily Tel. 13 Oct. 3/1 He said he was a touchy person and a huggy person and he liked to have a hug. 2003 Daily Star 3 Apr. 12/2 Take Brit actress Minnie Driver for example. Not for her the stiff upper lip and an affectionate peck. Oh no, here she is welded to her new mystery lover's lips..like the most touchy-feely American. |