toe-dip

English

Verb

toe-dip (third-person singular simple present toe-dips, present participle toe-dipping, simple past and past participle toe-dipped)

1. To dip a toe into something.
   • 2010, Max Gunther, The Very, Very Rich and How They Got That Way:

     Thus Clement Stone, though he has toe-dipped and waded and sometimes plunged into many ventures during the course of a busy life, is still inescapably labeled as an insurance man.

   • 2011, Max Gunther, Wall Street and Witchcraft:

     All newcomers who plunged or waded or toe-dipped into the market believed, or at least hoped, they had some special insight or cleverness not granted to anybody else.

   • 2018 May 3, Stacey Jenkins, “Family Business on Tap at Reuben's Brews”, in Rewire:

     Adam, who is admittedly risk-averse, kept his day job for the first 18 months after the family opened its business. During those beginning months, he said he “toe-dipped” in.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see toe,‎ dip.
   • 1981, David Littlejohn, Going to California, page 61:

     First she toe-dipped, and squealed, then timidly let herself down the ladder inch by chilly inch.

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