touse

American  

[tauz, tooz, toos] / taʊz, tuz, tus /

verb (used with object)

toused, tousing

1. to handle roughly; dishevel.

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verb (used without object)

toused, tousing

1. to struggle; tussle.

noun

1. a commotion; rumpus.

Etymology

Origin of touse

1250–1300; Middle English -t ( o ) usen, in betusen, fortusen to handle roughly (simple verb first recorded in the early 16th century); cognate with Old Frisian tūsen to rend, German zausen to tousle

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

touse toused tousing

Researchers have previously found that when people recycle, they feel entitled touse more resources and produce more waste.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2018

Nought can great Furor do but bark and howl, And snarl, and grin, and carl, and touse the world, Like a great swine, by his long, lean-ear'd lugs.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 9 by Various

"And whenever those notes in the street begin,    I recall her, and that far scene, And her acting of how the Allies marched in,    And her touse of the tambourine!"

From Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy

I dinks mine hed vas schplit abart He kicks oup sooch a touse; But nefer mind der poys vas few Like dot young Yawcob Strauss.

From Poems Teachers Ask For Selected by readers of "Normal Instructor-Primary Plans" by Various

The "Santisima Trinidad," The old "Redoubtable's" hard sides, and ours, Will take the touse of this bombastic blow.

From The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy

But now, I rede thee, look that thou art presently ready to marry, and neglect not bidding good plenty of guests; but invite especially those that have hitherto tightly toused, mocked, and scorned thee.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 56, No. 346, August, 1844 by Various

Platini scored all types of goals, including a brilliant diving header as part of a perfect hat-trick against Yugoslavia, his second in two games after another in the 5-0 tousing of Belgium.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2016

There was Bathurst arranging the custom-house pass;   And to guard the frail package from tousing and routing, There stood my Lord Eldon, endorsing it "Glass,"   Tho' as to which side should lie uppermost, doubting.

From The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes by William Michael Rossetti

I have forgotten with tousing by the hair, What I devised to say a little ere.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by William Carew Hazlitt