tout

[ tout ]

verb (used without object)

1. to persistently solicit business, employment, votes, or the like.
2. Horse Racing. to act as a tout.

verb (used with object)

1. to persistently solicit support for.
2. to describe or advertise boastfully; publicize or promote; praise extravagantly:

   a highly touted nightclub.

3. Horse Racing.
   1. to provide information on (a horse) running in a particular race, especially for a fee.
   2. to spy on (a horse in training) in order to gain information for the purpose of betting.
4. to watch; spy on.

noun

1. a person who persistently solicits business, employment, support, or the like.
2. Horse Racing.
   1. a person who gives information on a horse, especially for a fee.
   2. Chiefly British. a person who spies on a horse in training for the purpose of betting.
3. British. a ticket scalper.

tout

/ taʊt /

verb

1. to solicit (business, customers, etc) or hawk (merchandise), esp in a brazen way
2. intr
   1. to spy on racehorses being trained in order to obtain information for betting purposes
   2. to sell, or attempt to sell, such information or to take bets, esp in public places
3. informal.
   tr to recommend flatteringly or excessively

noun

1. 1. a person who spies on racehorses so as to obtain betting information to sell
   2. a person who sells information obtained by such spying
2. a person who solicits business in a brazen way
3. Also calledticket tout a person who sells tickets unofficially for a heavily booked sporting event, concert, etc, at greatly inflated prices
4. a police informer

Derived Forms

• ˈtouter, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tout¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Middle English tuten “to look out, peer”; probably akin to Old English tōtian “to peep out”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tout¹

C14 (in the sense: to peer, look out): related to Old English tӯtan to peep out

Example Sentences

Stores on every other street corner tout rainbow displays of surgical masks, with a dazzling variety of patterns.

From ProPublica

Two years earlier, the commission settled civil fraud charges against an even younger Internet tout.

From Washington Post

One is the “economic decoupling” many tout as the way to end any dependency on China and weaken its economy.

From Ozy

The audience--tout Hollywood--stands to cheer his slow and painful trek from the wings to the table.

From The Daily Beast

A liberal group supporting Hillary Clinton tries to tout her pro-middle class bonafides.

From The Daily Beast

But every few years a news article will tout the increased popularity of rabbit as an American dinner item.

From The Daily Beast

Le tout Minsk turns out in protest, catching the authorities by surprise.

From The Daily Beast

That big brain we so tout today was shaped by the mammoths we hunted, by the great cats and bears that sometimes stalked us.

From The Daily Beast

Ils me respondirent que si je la voulois, ils me la donnoyent tout faict.

From Project Gutenberg

Ils me donnerent parolle d'ainsy faire le tout; ce neantmoins, le languissant ne nous fut apport que deux jours aprs.

From Project Gutenberg

Neantmoins le vieil Membertou, pere du malade, conceut asss l'affaire, et me promit qu'on s'arresteroit tout ce que j'en dirois.

From Project Gutenberg

Celuy-cy avoit souvent esvad le danger d'estre noy, et tout fraischement le beau jour de la Pentecoste dernire.

From Project Gutenberg

Le lendemain matin, un coup de vent l'emporta tout seul dehors de la chaloupe dans les vagues, et jamais depuis, n'est apparu.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• laud
• praise
• proclaim
• promote
• publicize
• trumpet