Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To promote or praise energetically; publicize.
  • intransitive verb To solicit or importune.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To obtain or sell information on (a racehorse or stable) for the guidance of bettors.
  • intransitive verb To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To obtain and deal in information on racehorses.
  • noun One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently.
  • noun Chiefly British One who obtains information on racehorses and their prospects and sells it to bettors.
  • noun Chiefly Scots and Irish Slang One who informs against others; an informer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as touter.
  • noun In horse-racing, a person who clandestinely watches the trials of race-horses at their training quarters and for a fee gives information for betting purposes.
  • noun In the game of solo, a play when one person takes or proposes to take all the tricks. Also touter.
  • To look about; spy; specifically, in modern racing slang, to spy out the movements of race-horses at training.
  • To look about for customers; solicit custom, employment, or the like.
  • To follow.
  • To pout; be seized with a sudden fit of ill humor.
  • noun The buttocks; the backside; the fundament.
  • noun A pet; a huff; a fit of ill humor.
  • noun A fit or slight attack of illness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb Cant. Eng. To act as a tout. See 2d tout.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To ply or seek for customers.
  • noun Cant. Eng. One who secretly watches race horses which are in course of training, to get information about their capabilities, for use in betting.
  • noun Cant, U. S. One who gives a tip on a race horses for an expected compensation, esp. in hopes of a share in any winnings; -- usually contemptuous.
  • noun colloq. One who solicits custom, as a runner for a hotel, cab, gambling place.
  • noun colloq. A spy for a smuggler, thief, or the like.
  • transitive verb Cant, Eng., Cant, U. S., Cant, U. S. To spy out information about, as a racing stable or horse.
  • transitive verb Cant, U. S. To give a tip on (a race horse) to a better with the expectation of sharing in the latter's winnings.
  • noun obsolete The anus.
  • noun In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.
  • intransitive verb Scot. & Dial. Eng. To look narrowly; spy.
  • intransitive verb Cant, Eng., Cant, U. S., Cant, U. S. To spy out the movements of race horses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.
  • intransitive verb Cant, U. S. To act as a tout; to tout, or give a tip on, a race horse.
  • intransitive verb To toot a horn.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
  • noun A person, at a racecourse, who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win
  • verb transitive To flaunt, to publicize/publicise; to boast or brag; to promote.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who advertises for customers in an especially brazen way
  • noun one who sells advice about gambling or speculation (especially at the racetrack)
  • verb advertize in strongly positive terms
  • verb show off
  • noun someone who buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Early Modern English, to be on the lookout for (customers, information, etc.), from Middle English tuten, to peer; akin to Old English tōtian, to protrude, peep out.]

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Examples

  • Frenchman, that "_comprendre tout, c'est pardonner tout_," or, better yet, that to understand all is to understand that there is nothing to pardon, will not be chary of their cheers to him who is able to advance their cause, nor of their curses upon him who betrays it.

    Socialism: Positive and Negative Robert Rives La Monte

  • But _tout lasse, tout casse, tout passe_; and while the kingfisher turns his sapphire back in the sun against the lemon-yellow of the willow leaves, and the smouldering russet of the oak-crowns succeeds to the crimson of the beeches and the gold of the elms, we shall do well to emulate the serene magnanimity of Nature and console ourselves with the reflection that the rural philosopher, if only assured of

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-11-17 Various 1898

  • Il n'y a pas un homme a Londres qui possède un cercle d'amis comme le sien: tout ce qu'il y a de plus distingué _en tout_.

    Philip Gilbert Hamerton An Autobiography, 1834-1858, and a Memoir by His Wife, 1858-1894 Eug��nie Hamerton 1864

  • May gadgets & wires be humming with harmony again tout de suite.

    cramer - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Pour cacher mon fou-rire, je pars faire chauffer du lait; j'apporte le beurre et des tartines de pain tout juste grillé.

    la routine - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Pour cacher mon fou-rire, je pars faire chauffer du lait; j'apporte le beurre et des tartines de pain tout juste grillé.

    Tante Marie-Francoise 2009

  • If what they tout is really valid, then it would make sense to halt the ARES program and seriously look at the Direct 2.0 (or other) system.

    Leroy Chiao Seeks Your Input - NASA Watch 2009

  • Pour cacher mon fou-rire, je pars faire chauffer du lait; j'apporte le beurre et des tartines de pain tout juste grillé.

    Lettres de ma Terrasse 2009

  • She and McCain tout themselves as leaders who can bring about change, but where have both of them been for the past 30 years on this issue of energy?

    Obama camp out with new gas tax ad, Clinton camp fires back 2008

  • I have tried to distinguish between us, but a couple of times recently I fell back into the habit of a lifetime and just used my name tout court.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009

Comments

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  • (n): One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently.

    March 6, 2009

  • Mmmm, brazed customers.

    March 6, 2009