touch

verb

1. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “I touched his face softly.”

   “While thus she spake, / She toucht his eye-lashes with libant lip / And breath'd ambrosial odours; […]”

2. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “Sitting on the bench, the hem of her skirt touched the ground.”

3. (intransitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “They stood next to each other, their shoulders touching.”

4. (intransitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “Please can I have a look, if I promise not to touch?”

5. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “If you touch her, I'll kill you.”

   “Let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee.”

6. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “The man was arrested for touching a girl without her consent.”

7. (intransitive, rare, reflexive, transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “Her parents had caught her touching herself when she was fifteen.”

8. Primarily physical senses.

   “Tell me the truth, did you touch her?”

9. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

   “He quickly touched his knee to the worn marble.”

   “The demonstrator nearly touched the rod on the ball.”

   “She touched her lips to the glass.”

10. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

    “Frankly, this wood's so strong that sandpaper won't touch it.”

11. (transitive)Primarily physical senses.

    “Are you all right? You've hardly touched your lunch.”

    “But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw[…]that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.”

12. (intransitive)Primarily physical senses.

    “Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander — from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain — this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.”

13. (historical, transitive)Primarily physical senses.

    “But in fact the English kings of the seventeenth century usually began to touch form the day of their accession, without waiting for any such consecration.”

14. (intransitive, obsolete)Primarily physical senses.

    “Strong waters pierce metals, and will touch upon gold, that will not touch upon silver.”

15. Primarily physical senses.
16. (intransitive)Primarily physical senses.
17. Primarily physical senses.

    “to touch the wind”

18. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “My grandfather, as many people know, was touched with greatness.”

    “This year, J. Allen Collier, the artistic director and producer, invited choreographers to create dance pieces exploring the multi-faceted responses to the AIDS crisis. This thematic unity touched the show with additional solemnity and grace.”

19. (archaic, transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “Next to sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear; for besides those terrors which I have before touched, […] there is a superstitious fear […] which much trouble many of us.”

20. (intransitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “'Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last time I hope,' continued the doctor, 'there is one point I should like you to understand.[…]'”

21. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “Men of Israhell take hede to youreselves what ye entende to do as touchinge these men.”

    “The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.”

    “And now it seemed he was engaged in something which touched them closely, but must be hidden from their knowledge.”

22. (transitive, usually, with-negation)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole.”

    “His latest play is so shocking that his publisher wouldn't touch it and his friends almost dumped him.”

23. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend, for if it touch not you, it comes near nobody.”

    “Stefan was touched by the song's message of hope.”

24. (dated, transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “He had been drinking over lunch, and was clearly touched.”

25. (Scottish, transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “The bill was finally touched after many hours of deliberation.”

26. (slang, transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “I was running short, so I touched old Bertie for a fiver.”

27. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “You must be touched if you think I'm taking your advice.”

28. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “There was his mistress, Maria Morano. I don't think I've ever seen anything to touch her, and when you work for the screen [as I do] you're apt to have a pretty exacting standard of female beauty.”

    “'Lind Arden was a great genius, one of the greatest tragic actresses in the world. As Lady Macbeth, as Magda, there was no one to touch her.'”

29. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.

    “On Sunday afternoon it was as dark as night, with barely room for two riders abreast on a gradient that touches 20%.”

30. (transitive)Primarily non-physical senses.
31. To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.

    “I mean to touch your love indeed.”

32. To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.

    “The lines, though touched but faintly, are drawn right.”

33. (obsolete)To infect; to affect slightly.

    “Hee was touched with great Remorse”

34. To strike; to manipulate; to play on.

    “to touch an instrument of music”

    “[They] touched their golden harps.”

35. To perform, as a tune; to play.

    “A person in the royal retinue touched a light and lively air on the flageolet.”

36. To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.

    “No decree of mine,[…][to] touch with lightest moment of impulse his free will.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.

   “Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.

   “With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.

   “He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.

   “a heavy touch, or a light touch”

5. (countable, uncountable)A distinguishing feature or characteristic.

   “Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A little bit; a small amount.

   “Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.”

   “I'd like to see a touch more enthusiasm in the project.”

   “Madam, I have a touch of your condition.”

   “In another example, there are a few touches of white above the eye, and a white postocular stripe, which becomes quite broad where it terminates on the side of the neck.”

   “We had looked forward to four or five days' work in Ying-shan similar to that in Yün-mung, but at the end of our two days' walk from the one city to the other (they lie more than fifty miles apart), Mr. Terrell had a touch of fever, so we judged it best to remain in Ying-shan only for a day and then travel as quickly as possible by chair to Teh-ngan to consult our good friend, Dr. Morley, of the Wesleyan Mission Hospital in that city, and from thence take boat for Hankow....”

7. (countable, uncountable)The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.

   “He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch.”

8. (uncountable)A relationship of close communication or understanding.

   “He promised to keep in touch while he was away.”

   “lose touch”

9. (countable, uncountable)The ability to perform a task well; aptitude.

   “I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch.”

   “Rovers' hopes of pulling off one of the great European shocks of all time lasted just 10 minutes before Spurs finally found their scoring touch.”

10. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Act or power of exciting emotion.

    “Not alone / The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, / Do strongly speak to us.”

11. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)An emotion or affection.

    “a true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy”

12. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Personal reference or application.

    “Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.”

13. (countable, uncountable)A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.

    “Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.”

14. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A brief essay.

    “Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch.”

15. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone.

    “Now do I play the touch.”

    “a neat new monument of touch and alabaster”

16. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.

    “equity, the true touch of all laws”

    “friends of noble touch”

17. (countable, uncountable)The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.

    “Set off the exact Length forward and aftward from the Observation of the rising of the Keel, by Shipwrights called the Touch, or Place where the Keel's upper Part ends to be streight.”

18. (countable, uncountable)The children's game of tag.
19. (countable, uncountable)A set of changes less than the total possible on seven bells, i.e. less than 5,040.
20. (countable, slang, uncountable)An act of borrowing or stealing something; a request for money.

    “But towards evening I got a touch at a cove's suck, and eased him of twenty-two quids and a lil, which I took in the usual manner, when he was entering the inn door.”

    “Supposedly Pickle has a line on a group of wealthy donors who were about to make a big drop on Chuy's campaign, now that he is in the runoff. I ask Pickle about the timing of this donation because Crawford and I are about to put the touch on the campaign for another five grand.”

    “Brody would have to pay her, so if all else failed she would have some control. She would have sex on her terms, not his. She would give him the relief he craved, and also relieve him of 500 quid while she was at it. A sweet little touch to keep her ahead of the game.”

21. (countable, slang, uncountable)The extent to which a person is interested or affected; the amount of outlay on something.

    “Such was Tim Whiffle on the Sunday, with the addition of a cane to indicate riding, it is true he had long had a penchant to a pair of spurs but did not as yet sport them, although a half crown touch at some livery stables was positively decided upon in his own mind, though hitherto the dread of a fall from a horse had prevented the execution of his magnanimous plan.”

22. (UK, countable, dated, uncountable)Tallow.
23. (countable, uncountable)Form; standard of performance.

    “2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round seven? Australian Football League, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019. Jackson Hately, Isaac Cumming and Nick Shipley have been in great touch in the NEAFL.”

24. (countable, uncountable)A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.

    “2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round seven? Australian Football League, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019. With just six touches, small forward Daniel Rioli was uncharacteristically quiet against Melbourne, although he did lay five tackles.”

25. (Australia, countable, uncountable)touch football (a variant of rugby league that does not involve tackling)