Tough adjective [ Compar. Tougher ; superl. Toughest .] [ Middle English tough , Anglo-Saxon tōh , akin to Dutch taai , LG. taa , tage , tau , Old High German zāhi , G. zähe , and also to Anglo-Saxon ge tenge near to, close to, oppressive, Old Saxon bi tengi .]
1. Having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough . " Tough roots and stubs. " Milton.

2. Not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; as, tough sinews. Cowper.

A body made of brass, the crone demands, . . .
Tough to the last, and with no toil to tire.

Dryden.

The basis of his character was caution combined with tough tenacity of purpose.

J. A. Symonds.

3. Not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm.

4. Stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow.

So tough a frame she could not bend.

Dryden.

5. Severe; violent; as, a tough storm. [ Colloq.] " A tough debate. " Fuller.

To make it tough , to make it a matter of difficulty; to make it a hard matter. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Tough-cake noun See Tough- pitch (b) .

Tough-head noun (Zoology) The ruddy duck. [ Local U. S. ]

Tough-pitch noun (Metal.) (a) The exact state or quality of texture and consistency of well reduced and refined copper. (b) Copper so reduced; -- called also tough-cake .

Toughen intransitive verb & t. [ imperfect & past participle Toughened ; present participle & verbal noun Toughening .] To grow or make tough, or tougher.

Toughish adjective Tough in a slight degree.

Toughly adverb In a tough manner.

Toughness noun The quality or state of being tough.

Touite noun The wood warbler. [ Prov. Eng.]

Toupee (?; 277), Tou*pet" (?; 277) , noun [ French toupet , dim. of Old French top a tuft; of Teutonic origin, and akin to English top . See Top apex, and confer Topet .]

1. A little tuft; a curl or artificial lock of hair.

2. A small wig, or a toppiece of a wig.

Her powdered hair is turned backward over a toupee .

G. Eliot.

Toupettit noun [ See Topet , toupee .] (Zoology) The crested titmouse. [ Prov. Eng.]

Tour noun [ French tour . See Tower .] A tower. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Tour intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Toured ; present participle & verbal noun Touring .] To make a tourm; as, to tour throught a country. T. Hughes.

Touraco noun (Zoology) Same as Turacou .

Tourbillion noun [ French torbillion a whirlwind, tourbillion, from Latin turbo , - inis , a whirl, whirlwind.] An ornamental firework which turns round, when in the air, so as to form a scroll of fire. G. Francis.

Touring car An automobile designed for touring; specif., a roomy car, not a limousine, for five or more passengers.

Tourist noun One who makes a tour, or performs a journey in a circuit.

Tourmaline noun [ French tourmaline , confer Italian turmalina , tormalina , New Latin turmalina , turmalinus ; all from tournamal , a name given to this stone in Ceylon.] (Min.) A mineral occurring usually in three-sided or six-sided prisms terminated by rhombohedral or scalenohedral planes. Black tourmaline (schorl) is the most common variety, but there are also other varieties, as the blue (indicolite), red (rubellite), also green, brown, and white. The red and green varieties when transparent are valued as jewels. [ Written also turmaline .]

» Crystals of tourmaline when heated exhibit electric polarity (see Pyroelectric , noun ). Tourmaline is also used in the form of a polariscope called tourmaline tongs .

Tourn noun [ See Turn ]
1. A spinning wheel. [ Prov. Eng.]

2. (O.Eng.Law) The sheriff's turn, or court.

Tournament noun [ Middle English turnement , tornement , Old French torneiement , tornoiement , French tournoiement a turning or wheeling round. See Tourney .]
1. A mock fight, or warlike game, formerly in great favor, in which a number of combatants were engaged, as an exhibition of their address and bravery; hence, figuratively, a real battle. "In battle and in tourneyment ." Chaucer.

With cruel tournament the squadrons join.

Milton.

» It different from the joust , which was a trial of skill between one man and another.

2. Any contest of skill in which there are many contestents for championship; as, a chess tournament .

Tournery noun Work turned on a lathe; turnery. [ Obsolete] See Turnery . Evelyn.

Tourney noun [ Old French tornei , tornoi , French tournoi , from Old French torneier , tornoier , tournoier , to tit, to tourney, French tournoyer to turn round and round. See Turn , transitive verb ] A tournament. Bacon.

At tilt or tourney or like warlike game.

Spenser.

We hold a tourney here to-morrow morn,
And there is scantly time for half the work.

Tennyson.

Tourney intransitive verb [ Confer OF. torneier . See Tourney , noun ] To perform in tournaments; to tilt.

Well could he tourney , and in lists debate.

Spenser.

Tourniquet noun [ French, from tourner to turn.] (Surg.) An instrument for arresting hemorrhage. It consists essentially of a pad or compress upon which pressure is made by a band which is tightened by a screw or other means.

Tournois noun [ French, belonging to Tours in France.] A former French money of account worth 20 sous, or a franc. It was thus called in distinction from the Paris livre , which contained 25 sous.

Tournure noun [ French, from tourner to turn.]

1. Turn; contour; figure.

2. Any device used by women to expand the skirt of a dress below the waist; a bustle.

Tous-les-mois noun [ French, all the months, i.e. , every month.] A kind of starch with very large, oval, flattened grains, often sold as arrowroot, and extensively used for adulterating cocoa. It is made from the rootstocks of a species of Canna , probably C. edulis , the tubers of which are edible every month in the year.

Touse noun A pulling; a disturbance. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Touse, Touze transitive verb & i. [ imperfect & past participle Toused ; present participle & verbal noun Tousing .] [ Middle English tosen √64. See tease , and confer Tose , Toze . ] To pull; to haul; to tear; to worry. [ Prov. Eng.] Shak.

As a bear, whom angry curs have touzed .

Spenser.

Tousel transitive verb Same as Tousle . [ Colloq.]

Touser noun One who touses. [ Prov. Eng.]

Tousle transitive verb [ Freq. of touse . Confer Tossle .] To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse. [ Colloq.]

Tousy adjective [ See Touse , noun & v. ] Tousled; tangled; rough; shaggy. [ Colloq.]

Tout (tōt) intransitive verb [ See 1st Toot .]
1. To act as a tout. See 2d Tout . [ Cant. Eng.]

2. To ply or seek for customers. [ Prov. Eng.]

Tout noun One who secretly watches race horses which are in course of training, to get information about their capabilities, for use in betting. [ Cant. Eng.]

Tout intransitive verb [ See 3d Toot . ] To toot a horn.

Tout noun The anus. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Tout noun [ Prob. from French tout all.] In the game of solo, a proposal to win all eight tricks.

Tout intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Touted ; present participle & verbal noun Touting .]
1. To look narrowly; spy. [ Scot. & Dial. Eng.]

2. (Horse Racing) (a) 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. [ Cant, Eng.] (b) To act as a tout; to tout, or give a tip on, a race horse. [ Cant, U. S.]

Tout transitive verb (Horse Racing) (a) To spy out information about, as a racing stable or horse. [ Cant, Eng.] (b) To give a tip on (a race horse) to a better with the expectation of sharing in the latter's winnings. [ Cant, U. S.]

Tout noun
1. One who gives a tip on a race horses for an expected compensation, esp. in hopes of a share in any winnings; -- usually contemptuous. [ Cant, U. S.]

2. One who solicits custom, as a runner for a hotel, cab, gambling place. [ Colloq.]

3. A spy for a smuggler, thief, or the like. [ Colloq.]

Tout-ensemble noun [ French] All together; hence, in costume, the fine arts, etc., the general effect of a work as a whole, without regard to the execution of the separate perts.

Touter noun One who seeks customers, as for an inn, a public conveyance, shops, and the like: hence, an obtrusive candidate for office. [ Colloq.]

The prey of ring droppers, . . . duffers, touters , or any of those bloodless sharpers who are, perhaps, better known to the police.

Dickens.

Touze v.t & i. See Touse . [ Prov. Eng.]

Tow noun [ Middle English tow , Anglo-Saxon tow , akin to OD. touw , Icelandic ... a tuft of wool for spinning; confer English taw , v.t.] The coarse and broken part of flax or hemp, separated from the finer part by the hatchel or swingle.

Tow transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Towed ; present participle & verbal noun Towing .] [ Middle English towen , to...en; akin to OFries. toga to pull about, Old High German zogōn, Icelandic toga , Anglo-Saxon toh line a towline, and Anglo-Saxon teón to draw, past participle getogen . See Tug ] To draw or pull through the water, as a vessel of any kind, by means of a rope.

Tow noun [ Confer Icelandic taug a rope, from the same root as English tow , transitive verb ]
1. A rope by which anything is towed; a towline, or towrope.

2. The act of towing, or the state of being towed; --chiefly used in the phrase, to take in tow , that is to tow.

3. That which is towed, or drawn by a towline, as a barge, raft, collection of boats, ect.

Towage noun [ From Tow , v. Confer French touage .]
1. The act of towing.

2. The price paid for towing.

Towall noun A towel. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.