touch off

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verb (tr, adverb)

to cause to explode, as by touching with a match
to cause (a disturbance, violence, etc) to beginthe marchers' action touched off riots

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Words nearby touch off

touchless, touchline, touchline ban, touchmark, touch-me-not, touch off, touch on, touchpad, touch paper, touch plate, touch-ready
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Words related to touch off

prompt, inspire, propel, sway, excite, drive, trigger, galvanize, spark, provoke, spur, persuade, incline, kindle, precipitate, stir, stimulate, set off, explode, blast

Idioms and Phrases with touch off

touch off
1

Cause to explode or fire; also, initiate, trigger. For example, The boys touched off a whole line of firecrackers, or These disclosures will touch off a public uproar. This idiom comes from early firearms, which were set off by putting a light to the touch-hole. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.

2

Depict very precisely, as in He touched off Teddy Roosevelt as well as it's ever been done. [Mid-1700s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.