touch
verbEtymology
From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (whence Modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *tuccō (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tukkōn (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōną (“to tug, grab, grasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Largely displaced native Middle English rinen, from Old English hrīnan (whence Modern English rine). Doublet of tuck. Cognates Cognate with Old High German zochhōn, zuhhōn (“to grasp, take, seize, snatch”) (whence German zucken (“to jerk, flinch”)), German Low German tucken, tocken (“to fidget, twitch, pull up, entice, throb, knock, repeatedly tap”), Middle Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entice”) (whence Dutch tokkelen (“to strum, pluck”)), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to disturb, mistreat”) (whence Modern English tuck). Compare also Old High German tokkōn, tockōn (“to abut, collide”). More at tuck. Via Proto-Indo-European *dewk- cognate with English tie, tow, tug, team, Latin dūcō, dux.
- inherited from touchen
Definitions
Primarily physical senses.
- I touched his face softly.
- While thus she spake, / She toucht his eye-lashes with libant lip / And breath'd ambrosial odours; […]
Primarily non-physical senses.
- My grandfather, as many people know, was touched with greatness.
To try
To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.
- I mean to touch your love indeed.
›+ 30 more definitionsshow fewer
To mark or delineate with touches
To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.
- The lines, though touched but faintly, are drawn right.
To infect
To infect; to affect slightly.
- Hee was touched with great Remorse
To strike
To strike; to manipulate; to play on.
- to touch an instrument of music
- [They] touched their golden harps.
To perform, as a tune
To perform, as a tune; to play.
- A person in the royal retinue touched a light and lively air on the flageolet.
To influence by impulse
To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.
- No decree of mine,[…][to] touch with lightest moment of impulse his free will.
An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
- Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
- With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.
- He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch.
The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an…
The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.
- a heavy touch, or a light touch
A distinguishing feature or characteristic.
- Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.
A little bit
A little bit; a small amount.
- Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
- I'd like to see a touch more enthusiasm in the project.
- Madam, I have a touch of your condition.
The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.
- He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch.
A relationship of close communication or understanding.
- He promised to keep in touch while he was away.
- lose touch
The ability to perform a task well
The ability to perform a task well; aptitude.
- I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch.
- Rovers' hopes of pulling off one of the great European shocks of all time lasted just 10 minutes before Spurs finally found their scoring touch.
Act or power of exciting emotion.
- Not alone / The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, / Do strongly speak to us.
An emotion or affection.
- a true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy
Personal reference or application.
- Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.
A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.
- Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.
A brief essay.
- Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch.
A touchstone
A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone.
- Now do I play the touch.
- a neat new monument of touch and alabaster
Examination or trial by some decisive standard
Examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.
- equity, the true touch of all laws
- friends of noble touch
The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion…
The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.
- 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.
The children's game of tag.
A set of changes less than the total possible on seven bells, i.e. less than 5,040.
An act of borrowing or stealing something
An act of borrowing or stealing something; a request for money.
- But towards evening I got a touch at a cove's suck, and eased him of twenty-two quids and a lil, which I took in the usual manner, when he was entering the inn door.
The extent to which a person is interested or affected
The extent to which a person is interested or affected; the amount of outlay on something.
Tallow.
Form
Form; standard of performance.
- 2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round seven? Australian Football League, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019. Jackson Hately, Isaac Cumming and Nick Shipley have been in great touch in the NEAFL.
A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.
touch football (a variant of rugby league that does not involve tackling)
The neighborhood
Derived
because you touch yourself at night, betouch, don't touch that dial, everything one touches turns to gold, everything one touches turns to shit, heart-touching, not touch something with a barge pole, not touch something with a ten-foot pole, not touch with a barge pole, not touch with a ten-foot pole, touch a chord, touch-and-go, touch and go, touch-and-go landing, touch a nerve, touch a raw nerve, touch base, touch bottom, touch cloth, touch down, touch 'em all, touch grass, touch in, touching ball, touch labor, touch-me-not, touch-me-not-ish, touch-move rule, touch off, touch on, touch one's forelock, touch out, touch piece, touch some grass, touch someone's hem, touch someone's robe, touch the body, touch the hem of someone's garment, touch the hem of someone's robe, touch up · +77 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at touch. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at touch. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
10 hops · closes at touch
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA