tout
/taʊt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.18 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
noun
A person at a racecourse who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
verb
To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
British usage; Slang; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Be careful of the ticket touts outside the arena; they are famed for selling counterfeits."
- "Paul Muniment looked at his young friend a moment. 'Do you want to know what he is? He's a tout.' 'A tout? What do you mean?' 'Well, a cat's-paw, if you like better.'"
- "Damn, he's a tout."
- "No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict ; he had often threatened any one of his employés with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these touts."
- "The Derry Brigade of the IRA thought it had got rid of its informer problem when earlier that year it executed Paddy Flood as a tout, after holding him for six weeks."
- "Mary has been touted as a potential successor to the current CEO."
Etymology
From Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian (“to be sticking out, protrude”), related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, project”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly influenced by dialectal toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Compare also Old English tot, ġetot (“pomp, splendour, vainglory”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Colloquial
- Archaic
- Transitive verb
- British usage
- Slang
- American usage
- Intransitive verb
- Obsolete