touch

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *toccāre (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tokkōn, *tukkōn (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōnan, *tukkijanan (“to jerk, knock, strike, offend”), from Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Influenced by similar forms from Proto-Germanic *tūkanan (“to touch”) and Proto-Germanic *tēkanan (“to touch, grasp”). Cognate with Old High German zochhōn (“to grasp, seize”), Old Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entice”), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to mistreat, disturb”). Compare also Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tekan, “to touch”), Old Norse taka (“to touch, grasp”), Old English tacan (“to touch, take”). More at tuck, take.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Verb

touch (third-person singular simple present touches, present participle touching, simple past and past participle touched)

  1. Primarily physical senses.
    1. (transitive) To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. [from 14th c.]
      I touched her face softly.
    2. (transitive) To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect. [from 14th c.]
      Sitting on the bench, the hem of her skirt touched the ground.
    3. (intransitive) To come into physical contact, or to be in physical contact. [from 14th c.]
      They stood next to each other, their shoulders touching.
    4. (intransitive) To make physical contact with a thing. [from 14th c.]
      Please can I have a look, if I promise not to touch?
    5. (transitive) To physically disturb; to interfere with, molest, or attempt to harm through contact. [from 14th c.]
      If you touch her, I'll kill you.
    6. (transitive) To physically affect in specific ways implied by context. [from 15th c.]
      Frankly, this wood's so strong that sandpaper won't touch it.
    7. (transitive) To consume, or otherwise use. [from 15th c.]
      Are you all right? You've hardly touched your lunch.
    8. (intransitive) Of a ship or its passengers: to land, to make a short stop (at). [from 16th c.]
      • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
        Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander--from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain--this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.
    9. (transitive or reflexive) To sexually excite with the fingers; to finger or masturbate. [from 20th c.]
      Her parents had caught her touching herself when she was fifteen.
  2. Primarily non-physical senses.
    1. (transitive) To imbue or endow with a specific quality. [from 14th c.]
      My grandfather, as many people know, was touched with greatness.
    2. (transitive, archaic) To deal with in speech or writing; to mention briefly, to allude to. [from 14th c.]
      • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.2.4.vii:
        Next to sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear; for besides those terrors which I have before touched, [...] there is a superstitious fear [...] which much trouble many of us.
    3. (intransitive) To deal with in speech or writing; briefly to speak or write (on or upon something). [from 14th c.]
    4. (transitive, obsolete) To concern, to have to do with. [14th-19th c.]
      • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts V:
        Men of Israhell take hede to youreselves what ye entende to do as touchinge these men.
    5. (transitive) To affect emotionally; to bring about tender or painful feelings in. [from 14th c.]
      Stefan was touched by the song's message of hope.
    6. (transitive, dated) To affect in a negative way, especially only slightly. [from 16th c.]
      He had been drinking over lunch, and was clearly touched.
    7. (transitive, Scottish history) To give royal assent to by touching it with the sceptre. [from 17th c.]
      The bill was finally touched after many hours of deliberation.
    8. (transitive) To steal, or obtain money; to borrow money from. [from 18th c.]
      I was running short, so I touched old Bertie for a fiver.
    9. (transitive) To disturb the mental functions of; to make somewhat insane. [from 18th c.]
      You must be touched if you think I'm taking your advice.
    10. (transitive) To be on the level of; to approach in excellence or quality. [from 19th c.]
      • 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in Lord Peter Views the Body,
        There was his mistress, Maria Morano. I don't think I've ever seen anything to touch her, and when you work for the screen [as I do] you're apt to have a pretty exacting standard of female beauty.

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from the verb "touch"

[edit] Translations

make physical contact with
affect emotionally

[edit] Noun

touch (plural touches)

  1. An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
    Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
  2. The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
    With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
  3. 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.
  4. A distinguishing feature or characteristic.
    Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.
  5. A little bit; a small amount.
    Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
  6. The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.
    He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch.
  7. A relationship of close communication or understanding.
    He promised to keep in touch while he was away.
  8. An ability to perform a task
    I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch.
    • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, BBC Sport:
      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.

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun "touch"

[edit] Translations

act of touching
sense of perception
style or technique
distinguishing feature
small amount
part of a sportsfield
close communication
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Anagrams

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