English
tout
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /taʊt/
  • (Canada) IPA: /tʌʊt/
Noun

tout (plural touts)

  1. Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
    • 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima.
      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.'
      Hyacinth stared. 'For whom, pray?'
      'Or a fisherman, if you like better still. I give you your choice of comparisons. I made them up as we came along in the hansom. He throws his nets and hauls in the little fishes—the pretty little shining, wriggling fishes. They are all for her; she swallows, 'em down.'
  2. A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
  3. (colloquial, archaic) A spy for a smuggler, thief, or similar.
  4. (colloquial) An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
Synonyms Translations Verb

tout (touts, present participle touting; past and past participle touted)

  1. (transitive) To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.
    • 2016 January 25, "Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon ↗," The National (retrieved 25 January 2016):
      China has touted its policy of non-interference for decades.
    • 2012, Scott Tobias, The Hunger Games, 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.
  2. (obsolete) To look upon or watch.
    • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso, X, lvi:
      Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But still upon the floor did pore and tout.
  3. (UK, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To spy out information about (a horse, a racing stable, etc.).
  4. (US, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.
  5. (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.
  6. (US, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.
  7. (intransitive) To look for, try to obtain; used with for.
    To understand the new London, I lived it. I slept rough with Roma beggars and touted for work with Baltic laborers on the kerb. (Ben Judah on BBC Business Daily, March 1, 2016)
Synonyms Translations Noun

tout

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


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