English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taʊt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tʌʊt/
• Rhymes: -aʊt

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.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Hocussing of Cigarette:

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

Synonyms

• (one advertising aggressively for customers): barker, pitchman, spruiker

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.
   • 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 Tasso, X, lvi:

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

3. (Britain, 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. (Britain, 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. "tout for": to look for, try to obtain

   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

• 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

French

Etymology

From Middle French tout, from Old French tot, from Latin tōtus; compare Catalan tot, Italian tutto, Portuguese todo, Romanian tot, Spanish todo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Adjective

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

1. all

Pronoun

tout

1. everything

Adverb

tout

1. all

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French tout ‎(“all”).

Adjective

tout

1. all

Adverb

tout

1. all

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

Descendants

• French: tout

Usage notes

• Like 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)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French tot, from Latin tōtus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

tout m

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all

Derived terms

Adverb

tout

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) all