touse

American  

[touz, 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 Hardy, Thomas

Now you'd better go out and find the man that started all this touse about a leadin' citizen.

From The Skipper and the Skipped Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul by Day, Holman

"Who's making a—a—a touse about it?" inquired Tutt, perceiving that he had taken the wrong tack.

From By Advice of Counsel by Train, Arthur Cheney

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

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 Hazlitt, William Carew

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 Rossetti, William Michael