tout
Plural: touts
Noun
- someone who buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit
- someone who advertises for customers in an especially brazen way
- one who sells advice about gambling or speculation (especially at the racetrack)
- Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
- A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
- An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
- A spy for a smuggler, thief, or similar.
- In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.
Verb
Verb Forms: touted, touting, touts
- To solicit or promote something or someone brazenly.
- advertize in strongly positive terms
- "This product was touted as a revolutionary invention"
- show off
- To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.
- To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
- To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
- To spy out the movements of racehorses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
- To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
- To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
- To look upon or watch.
Examples
- Be careful of the ticket touts outside the arena, they are famed for selling counterfeits.
- Mary has been touted as a potential successor to the current CEO.
- The veteran player would TOUT his word knowledge, often intimidating new challengers.
Origin / 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”).
Synonyms
blow, bluster, boast, brag, gas, gasconade, shoot a line, swash, ticket tout, tipster, touter, vaunt, barker, pimp, pitch, pitchman, promote, spruik, spruiker
Scrabble Score: 4
tout: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordtout: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tout: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary