tout

English

Etymology 1

From a dialectal form of toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), itself from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Merged with Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian, related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taʊt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tʌʊt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊt

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

tout

Wikipedia

tout (plural touts)

1. Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.

   Synonyms: barker, pitchman, (Australia) spruiker

   Be careful of the ticket touts outside the arena, they are famed for selling counterfeits.

   • 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima, London: Macmillan and Co.:

     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.'

2. A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Hocussing of Cigarette”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     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.

3. (colloquial) An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
   • 2011, Hugh Jordan, Milestones in Murder: Defining Moments in Ulster's Terror War:

     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.

4. (colloquial, archaic) A spy for a smuggler, thief, or similar.

Derived terms

• ticket tout

Translations

Verb

tout (third-person singular simple present touts, present participle touting, simple past and past participle touted)

1. (transitive) To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.

   Mary has been touted as a potential successor to the current CEO.

   • 2016 January 25, “Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon”, in The National, retrieved 25 January 2016:

     China has touted its policy of non-interference for decades.

   • 2012, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in The A.V. Club:

     For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 9:

     Newspaper articles also were generally positive in tone, although a tendency towards sensationalism means that the spread of hybrid forms is occasionally touted as the universal language of the future.

2. (UK, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
3. (US, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
4. (UK, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) 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.
5. (US, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
6. (intransitive) To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
   • March 1, 2016, Ben Judah on BBC Business Daily:

     To understand the new London, I lived it. I slept rough with Roma beggars and touted for work with Baltic laborers on the kerb.

7. (obsolete) To look upon or watch.
   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, lvi:

     Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But still upon the floor did pore and tout.

Synonyms

• pimp
• pitch
• promote
• spruik

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from French tout (“all”).

Noun

tout

1. (card games) In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.

See also

• tout court
• mangetout
• tout ensemble

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tout, from Old French tot, from Vulgar Latin tōttus, alteration (likely via expressive gemination) of Latin tōtus. Compare Catalan tot, Italian tutto, Portuguese todo, Romanian tot, Spanish todo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/, (in liaison) /tu.t‿/

• audio

  (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /tʊt/

Adverb

tout m (feminine toute or tout, feminine plural toutes or tout)

1. all
2. totally; completely
3. (tout + adjective + que + subjunctive clause) however; no matter how
   • 1886, Ernest Legouvé, Soixante ans de souvenirs:

     « Oh ! disait-il, il faut le reconnaître, tout romantique qu’il soit, il y a quelque chose dans ce Lamartine… »

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

When modifying a feminine adjective, the form tout is used preceding a vowel or muted H, or otherwise changes to agree with the adjective. When modifying a verb, tout is invariant.

Derived terms

Determiner

tout (feminine toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all

Derived terms

Noun

tout m (plural touts)

1. whole, entirety, total

   le tout ― everything, all of it

Derived terms

Pronoun

tout (plural tous)

1. everything

Derived terms

• en avant toute
• à toute
• tout ça ne nous rendra pas le Congo

Further reading

• “tout”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French tout (“all”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tut/

Adjective

tout

1. all

Adverb

tout

1. all
2. every

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French tot.

Adjective

tout m (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all; all of

   toute la nuit

   all (of the) night

Adverb

tout (feminine singular toute, masculine plural tous, feminine plural toutes)

1. all (intensifier)
   • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 45:

     Et moult y avoit de gens tout autour pour regarder la iustice de la damoiselle

     And there were many people all around to watch the justice afforded to the lady

2. completely; totally; entirely

Usage notes

• Like Modern French tout, when used as an intensifier it may inflect according to the gender and the number of what it is describing:

  Elle est toute morte ― she is completely dead

• The uninflected form tout is always used for describing terms that don't inflect with gender, such as verbs, adverbs and prepositions:

  y avoit de gens tout autour ― there were people all around (tout qualifies the preposition autour)

Descendants

• French: tout

Norman

Etymology

From Old French tot, from Latin tōtus.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Adjective

tout m

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all

Derived terms

Adverb

tout

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all

Scots

Verb

tout

1. (intransitive) To pout.

Noun

tout (plural touts)

1. A fit of sulking; a pet.
2. A sudden illness.

Derived terms

• toutie