touch on
To mention or discuss something briefly
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touch oneself
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
touch the hem of someone's garment
Show great respect or admiration for someone
touch up
Make small improvements or repairs to something
touch wood
to express hope for continued good luck
touch wood. (20th century)
Expresses a wish to avoid bad luck
touch-and-go
An expression often applied to men with whom business arrangements should be of the lightest possible character. Thus, "He’s a TOUCH-AND-GO sort of fellow. Be careful of him."
toucher
"as near as a TOUCHER," as near as possible without actually touching.—Coaching term. The old Jarveys, to show their skill, used to drive against things so closely as absolutely to touch, yet without injury. This they called a TOUCHER, or TOUCH-AND-GO, which was hence applied to anything which was within an ace of ruin.
touchy
Peevish, irritable. Johnson terms it a low word.
tough as nails
Very strong and resilient
tough as teak
Very tough.
tough beans
Too bad, I'm not sympathetic
tough break
An unfortunate or unlucky situation
tough call
A difficult decision
tough case
A difficult or challenging situation
tough cookies
accepting a difficult situation
tough going
Difficult or challenging situation
tough love
Showing love or care through strict or firm behavior
tough luck
Bad fortune or an unfortunate situation
tough sledding
A difficult or challenging situation
tough titty
Too bad, it's not my problem
tough tuchus
a strong and resilient person
toughen up
become more resilient and less sensitive
tour de force
A feat of strength or skill. Tournament (O.Fr. tprneiement* from Lat. tornare, to turn). A tilt of knights; the chief art of the game being so to manoeuvre or turn your horse as to avoid the adversary's blow.
tout
In sporting phraseology a TOUT signifies an agent in the training districts, on the look-out for information as to the condition and capabilities of those horses entering for a coming race. TOUTS often get into trouble through entering private training-grounds. They, however, are very highly paid, some making 40l. or 50l. a week during the season. Now frequently called horse-watchers.
touter
A looker out, one who waits at railway stations and steamboat piers, and touts for customers; a hotel runner. Term in general use.
touting
(From TUERI, to look about) Publicans fore-stalling guests, or meeting them on the road, and begging their custom; also thieves or smugglers looking out to see that the coast is clear. Touting ken; the bar of a public house.
touzle
To romp with or rumple.—Scotch.
tovt
A look-out house, or eminence.
tow row
A grenadier. The tow row club; a club or society of the grenadier officers of the line.
tow-pows
Grenadiers. From the bearskins, most likely, unless it was originally TALL-POWS, the grenadiers being the tallest men in the company.
towel
An oaken towel, a cudgel. To rub one down with an oaken towel; to beat or cudgel him.
towel
To beat or whip. In old English phraseology a cudgel was termed an oaken TOWEL—whence, perhaps, the verb.
towelling
A rubbing down with an oaken TOWEL, a beating.
tower
Clipped money: they have been round the tower with it. CANT.
tower hill play
A slap on the face, and a kick on the breech.
Tower of London
The architect was Gundulphus, Bishop of Rochester, who also built or restored Rochester keep, in the time of Wilham I.
Towers of Silence
The small towers on which the Parsees and Zoroastnans place their dead to be consumed by birds of prey. The bones are picked clean in the course of a day, and are then thrown into a receptacle and covered with charcoal.
town
A woman of the town; a prostitute. To be on the town: to live by prostitution.
town and country
Urban and rural areas
town and gown
Conflict or difference between a town's residents and its university's students and staff
Town and Gown
The two sections of a university town; composed of those who are not attached to the university and those who are; hence, a town and gown row, a collision, often leading to a fight, between the students and non-gownsmen. Cp. PHILISTINES.
town bull
A common whoremaster. To roar like a town bull; to cry or bellow aloud.
town bull
A bull kept by the parish, in country places, for breeding purposes.
town centre
The central area of a town where shops and services are usually located
town crier
A municipal official who goes about the streets, usually in a robe, ringing a bell and crying, Oyez! Oyez! (q.v.) to attract attention to his proclamations of notices, coming events, lost property, etc.
town house
One's residence in town as apart from that in the country.
town is empty
The season (q.v.) is over; society has left town for the country. The few millions who live there and work do not count.
town planning
The regulating of the ground plan or extension of a town with a view to securing the greatest advantages from the point of view of health, public amenities, convenience in transport, etc. The Town Planning Act was passed in 1909 — and various amending and other Acts came into force in subsequent years. In 1943 a Ministry of Town and Country Planning was constituted, with wide powers to originate and control develop- ment.
town-lout
A derogatory title at Rugby School for those pupils who reside with their parents in the town, in contradistinction from those who live in the boarding-houses.
toy with
to play or flirt with something or someone without serious intention
toys in the attic
Crazy or eccentric ideas or thoughts
track and field
Athletic sports involving running, jumping, and throwing events
track down
To find or discover someone or something after a thorough search
track record
A record of past performance or achievements
tracks
"to make TRACKS," to run away. See STREAK.
Tracts for the Times
A series of papers on theological and liturgical subjects, published at Oxford (hence sometimes called The Oxford Tracts} between 1833 and 1841. They were started by the Rev. J. H. Newman (afterwards Cardinal Newman) with the object of arresting "the advance of Liberalism in religious thought," and reviving "the true conception of the relation of the Church of England to the Catholic Church at large.
trade board
An official council set up to regulate the conditions of labour in certain trades that otherwise might be "sweated.
trade follows the flag
Wherever the flag flies trade with the mother country springs up and prospers.
trade hands
be sold or transferred to a new owner
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